Full text of "Alaska and the Klondike gold fields... Practical instructions for fortune seekers... By A.C. Harris... Including Mrs. Eli Gage's experiences of a year among the Yukon mining camps; Mrs. Schwatka's recollections of her husband as the Alaskan pathfinder; prosaic side of gold hunting, as seen by Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras"

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OVERLAND ROUTE TO KLUMjiKE

ALASKA «^^/^

AND THE ^'/; V

KLONDIKE GOLD FIELDS

CONTAINING

A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD; ENORMOUS

DEPOSITS OF THE PRECIOUS METAL; ROUTES

TRAVERSED BY MINERS; HOW TO

FIND GOLD; CAMP LIFE

AT KLONDIKE

Practical Instructions for Fortune Seekers, Etc., Etc*

INCLUDING A

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE GOLD REGIONS; LAND OF

WONDERS; IMMENSE MOUNTAINS, RIVERS AND

PLAINS; NATIVE INHABITANTS, ETC.

BY A. C HARRIS

Thb Wbll-Known Author and Travblbk
INCLUDING

Mrs. EIi Gagfe's Experiences of a Year amongf the Yukon Mining

Camps ; Mrs* Schwatka's Recollections of her husband as

the Alaskan Pathfinder; Prosaic Side of Gold

Huntingf^ as seen by Joaquin Miller,

the Poet of the Sierras

EMBELLISHED VITH MANY ENGRAVINGS REPRESENTING
MINING AND OTHER SCENES IN ALASKA

litttered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897 , by
G. W. BERTRON,
In tbe Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. «
All Rights Reserved,

H31

PREFACE.

KLONDIKE is the magic word that is thrilling the whole
country. It stands for millions of gold and great for-
tunes for hundreds of miners, who have risen from
poverty to affluence in the brief period of a few months. Thou-
sands are reading of fortunes made in the Klondike Gold
Fields, and thousands of others are turning their longing eyes
toward the new El Dorado.

The old Spanish dreams of a wonderful realm somewhere
in the Western Continent, made of gold and precious stones,
-seem almost on the point of being realized. Not since 1849^
when the marvellous discoveries of gold were made in Cali-
fornia, has there been such excitement among all classes of
people.

Everybody wants to know the real facts concerning the new
discoveries. On every hand there is an eagerness for the
most reliable information, which is furnished by this new and
comprehensive work, containing a full description of Alaska
and the Gold Regions. The author writes from personal ex-
perience and observation, as he has been an eye-witness of
the scenes, incidents and facts which he describes and narrates.

The work gives a complete account of the rise of the gold
fever, the excitement produced by the news of unlimited
deposits of the precious metal ; the rush of miners seeking
fortunes at Klondike ; hasty preparations for the long and
perilous journey ; and the formation of companies eager to
take possession of the region abounding in untold wealth.
The thousands of prospectors hurrying to the Gold Fields give
us a picture of the rush to California when the discoveries of
gold were made in that State in 1849.

;iii)

iv PREFACE.

How to get there is a question fully answered in this vol-
ume. The different routes are described, together with the best
modes of transportation. This work tells you what is required
for the trip ; the clothing, food and implements that are needed ;
the hardships and dangers to be encountered ; the difficulties
arising from extreme cold in winter, and all the trying expe-
riences awaiting the gold-seekers.

Alaska is a land of wonders. It is a vast region and one
of the least known, yet one of the most remarkable countries
in the whole world. Its history is fully related ; its purchase
by our Government from Russia; its slow development and its
peculiar characteristics. It has vast tracts of primeval forests ;
mountains of awful sublimity ; rivers that rival the largest in
other parts of the world ; Arctic snows and summer foliage
and flowers ; deep caiions and grand water-falls ; solitudes
peopled only by polar bears and other fur-bearing animals ; and
weird scenes that startle the beholder and fill him with awe.

These are all vividly described, together with the towns and
settlements ; the appearance, habits and customs of the native
inhabitants ; the climate in different parts of the country, and
the progress of civilization up to the present time The min-
eral resources and wealth of Alaska are fully treated, showing
it to be a country rich in natural products. Its important
fisheries and possibilities for agriculture are all set forth, to-
gether with its industries, including its famous traffic in seals.

How to mine for gold is a subject on which the informa-
tion is most complete and valuable. The reader follows the
miners to their camps ; learns the process by which they extract
the precious metal from the recesses where it is stored ; how
it is separated from the ore ; what machinery is employed,
and what are the most successful methods for obtaining the
coveted prize.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.
LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

A Country Frozen by the Lapse of Time— Discovery of Gold Not New —
News is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Dig-
gings are Soon Abandoned — Eflfect of the Find on the People of the
United States and on the Money Centres of the World — Region
which may Properly be called the Land of Gold once Thought so
Worthless the Russians Offered to Give it Away for Nothing-
Testimony as to the Richness of the Deposits— The Popular
Demand for Information as to the Country, its Inhabitants,
Scenery, Resources and the Like — Camp Life and Experiences . . 17

CHAPTER n.
SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

Arrival of the Portland with more than a Ton of Gold on Board —
Miners Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines
— First Great Gold Craze — Prospecting in Early Days — Rich Gold
Discovery on Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers
— Scenes at the Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to
the Rush — Millions of Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in
Wall Street — Royalty Affected — Money in Grub-stakes — Joaquin
Miller Under Way—" Lucky " Baldwin After Mother Lode-
Bright and Dark Sides of Story 33

CHAPTER III.
"STRIKE IT RICH" ON KLONDIKE.

Gold-seekers who " Made their Pile " in the Placers — Tales Brought
Back by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices
—The "Tenderfoot " Has His Day— Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney
Barnato " of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak of Luck — Gives
the Credit to His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning
Results — Fortune Favors an Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides,
by People who Saw Them — Miners Go Insane — Death on the Glacier
—Hard Work and Lack of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer 75

(V)

vi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.
HOW TO GET THERE.

Main Routes to the Klondike — By Water and Land — Voyage via St.
Michael's — Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and
Dyea— In by Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat— The White Pass
Route — Lieutenant Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort
Wrangel and Lake Teslin — Railroads Suggested — The * * Back T^oor "
Route — Up the Copper River — By Moose Factory and Chesttxiioid
Inlet — Other Trails — Telegraph and Telephone — Postal Service —
Outfits for Miners — List of Necessaries 129

CHAPTER V.
A LAND OF WONDERS.

Land of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances —
Terrors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of
Travel — A Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery
— Rush of Torrents — Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River —
Canon of Lewis River — Dominion of the Frost King — Towering
Volcanoes — ^The Winter Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem
Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives. . 182

CHAPTER VI.
WOMEN AT THE MINES.

Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the
Frozen North — The Mosquito Pest — Juneau and the Lynn Canal —
Climbing the Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of Game
— ^The Scurvy Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps —
Female Enterprise — Scarcity of Amusements — Sisterhood of St.
Anne — ^The Four-leaf Clover — Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance
of Joseph Ladue — Women's Klondike Syndicate — A Lucky Seam-

CHAPTER VII.
POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

Rushes oflF to the Diggings at the First Report — Mining in '49 — Goes
in to Rough It — Carries His Own Pack^ Pick and Pan — W dl Hunt

210

CONTENTS. vu

for a Good Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts
Some Horse Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the
Crowd— One Way to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes—
On Mary Island — With Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police
at Metlakahtia — Hay on the Klondike — None Coming Frotn Yukon
— Frolic with Indian Children 245

CHAPTER VIII.

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF AI.ASKA.

One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen —
Seward's Glory — His Prophecy on Retiring to Private Life Verified
— Comparatively Few People in the Territory — Story of the Early
Days of Russian Occupation — The First Massacre — Country Once
Oflfered to the United States for Nothing — Appropriation for
Money to Pay for the Tract Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts
to Provide Country with a Government — Interior containing Gold
Fields once thought Worthless was Parceled Out in Thirds between
as many Nations — Recent History 256

CHAPTER IX.
TOPOGRAPHY.

Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Heai
Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its
Archipelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends
of the Indians are Manj' — ^Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness
Magnificent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the
Differences of Temperature — Mr. Weare Gives Some Interesting
Information — Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are
Located 281

CHAPTER X.
FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

viii CONTENTS.

Salting — A Dog Fish Story — Birds of Alaska— Among the Ceta-
ceans— Mosquitos and Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Tempera-
ture at Klondike— Aniuials and Vegetation in British Columbia . . 2t)^

CHAPTER XI.

INDUSTRIES AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

Chief Occupations of the Natives and the Settlers — The Four Remark-
able Seal Islands— How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly
Slaughtered— When the Fur is at Its Best— The Great Fishing Plants
of the Country — Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Other
Fish Abound — ^Trapping and Hunting on the Decline — Current
Belief that the Outlook for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability
that this Opinion may be Reversed by Later Discovery — ^Trees on
the Islands — Agricultural Development one of the Great Needs at
the Present Time — Land Simply Needs Tilling — Vegetables and
Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of Travelers 324

CHAPTER Xn.
RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago—
How the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Re-
port of Geological Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review
--Alaska Richer than Klondike — ^West of the Coast Range — Mint
Director Preston's Views — United States Leads the World in Gold
Production — From the Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon
Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings — Some Scattered Streaks — Experts
in the Field— John W. Mackey Quoted — Other Mineral Resources —
Canadian Report 349'

CHAPTER Xni.

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with
Gold — Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting —
Thawing the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals
— Pyrites, Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the
Claim — Local Customs — Commissioner Herrman's Digest — Getting
Out the Gold — Mining in Winter — Work Along the Yukon — Sluic-

CONTENTS.

ing for Gold— Dry Placer Miners— Dredging for Gold— Old Miner'8
Advice — Gold-bearing Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike —
Banks and Banking 375

CHAPTER XIV.
RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

X*aw and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining —
Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed
— Call for United States Troops — Size of Claims— Canadian Laws . 402

CHAPTER XV.
GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay
the Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America
— Early Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak
or Bust " — Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp
Craze — Rush to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone —
Placers in Baja, California — Harqua Hala Diggings — Randsburg and
Its Boom — Comparisons with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes
Cost in Cash and Life 422

" CHAPTER XVI.
SIDE-LIGHTS.

Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via
Baloon — Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock
in Dogs — Chopping Wood to Pay Passage — Grub-stakers and
"Angels" — Schemes of Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as
Gold-finders — Mining Stocks and Sharpers — Magic in the Name —
Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the Yukon — Samples of Argonauts
— Freaks of "Tenderfeet " — Bogus Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep
Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a Miner's Paper 440.

CHAPTER XVII.
CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

liining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Com-
munities, with such Peculiarities as are Bom of Climatic and Topo-

CONTENTS.

graphical Features — All Have Their Social Amenities— The Bible
and Shakespeare Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune
Seekers — Watching of Property Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose
no Time in Getting in Their Work — Gamblers also Flock Toward
the Yukon to Intercept the Returning Miners and F'leece Them —
"Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds 453

CHAPTER XVIII.
DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the
Wilderness — Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Older
Towns Antiquated and, during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded —
Graphic Pictures of Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp
Lake Liuderman — Hotel Project for the Territory that Promises to
be the Means of Furnishing a Larger Quota of Comforts — Women's
Influence on the Domestic Life — Some of Those Who Grace the
Camps with their Presence, and the Particular Line of Work to
which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of Mercy for the Sick and
Dying, and Sisters of Cookery for the Well 465

CHAPTER XIX.
ETHNOGRAPHY.

Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population — Classification of
the Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive
of Asiatic Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats
and their Traits — Hootzanoos and '* Hoochinoo " — ^The Sitkans and
Stickines — Among the Aleuts 47S

CHAPTER XX.
NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

The Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are
Intelligent, Inventive, and Imitative — Are Adepts in the Vices of
the White Men Who Visit Them — Are Natural-born Drunkards and
Gamblers— Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The
Significance of these Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in
Oral Traditions — ^The Theological and Cosmological Belief of the

CONTENTS. xi

Indians — Odd Notions of the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the
Rites Practiced — Cannibalism and Shamanism — Law and Home
Life — Description of the Innuits of the North 491

CHAPTER XXI.
SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to
the Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Pro-
gress of Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of
the Luthem Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to
Provide for Their Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the
Territory to the United States — Deed Interest shown By the Natives
— Some Striking Literature from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the
Presbyterians in Their Missions — Great Hope for the Future. . . . 503

CHAPTER XXn.
BRITISH COLUMBIA AND NORTHWEST TERRITORY.

Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified Features — Has a IVIaguifi-
cent Ocean Frontage — A Land of Great Rivers which Afford Internal
Highways — Greatest of All is the Columbia — Has a Large Ocean
Trade Even Now — Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful — Con-
struction of Railways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many
Districts Famous for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral
Deposits — Gold Mines in Abundance — Klondike Within the Cana-
dian Territory — Some of the Mines Now Worked — Silver Not
Wanting 516

CHAPTER XXIIL
ADVENT OF WINTER.

Confirmation of Stories About the Wealth of Klondike and Alaska —
Perils of the Passes — Dark and Bright Sides of the Picture, as Sccu
by Argonauts — New Diggings Opened — Copper River and Cook's
Inlet — New Strikes in the Yukon Basin — ^Two Experiences in Cross-
ing Chilkoot Pass— Over the White Pass — Belated Gold Seekers
Camping on the Trail — Woes of the Horses — New Routes — Tram-
way at Dyea — Via the Snow Train — At St. Michael's — In Dawson
and Skagway—Glacier Slide and Flood— Mt. St. Elias Scaled . . 52i>

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CHAPTER I,

Land of the Argonauts.

A Country Frozen by the Lapre of Time — Discovery of Gold Not New — News
is Flashed Over the World and Creates a Furore — Old Diggings are Soon
Abandoned — Effect of the Find on t!ie People of the United States and
on the Money Centres of the World — Region which may Properly be
called the Land of Gold once Thouglit so Worthless the Russians Offered
to Give it Away for Nothing — Testimony as to the Richness of the
Deposits — The Popular Demand for Information as to the Country, its
Inhabitants, Scenery, Resources and the Like — Caiisp Life and Experi-
ences.

ALASKA is the land of the Nineteenth Century Argonr.uts ;
and the Golden Fleece hidden away among its snow-
capped and glacier-clad mountains is not the pretty creation
of mythological fame, but yellow nuggets which may be trans-
formed into the coin of the realm. The vast territory into which
these hardy soldiers of fortune penetrate is no less replete with
wonders than the fabled land into which Jason is said to have
led his band of adventurers.

There is this difference, however, between the frozen land of
of the North and the fabled land of m.ythology. There is
nothing conjectural about Alaska or its golden treasure. Jason
led his band into an unknown country without the certain knowl-
edge that the treasure he was seeking was there. The men and
women who brave the perils of the wilderness to seek their
fortunes in Alaska, go with a certainty that the treasure is there.
It is a mere matter of finding it when once they have reached
the fields.

What is more the Land of Gold, as we may properly term
Alaska, has proved and will prove to tourist and prospector
as rich in delights and marvels as the land which b.as come
2 17

18 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

down to us in legend. It seems to be a spot chosen by nature
as a field of adventure. The person, therefore, who goes from
the South to the Yukon Valley will be sure to find, even though
disappointed in the quest for which primarily he went, enough
of the beautiful and martelous to pay him for his trip.

Frozen by Lapse of Time.

And first a word about this land of bleakness and grandeur.
Captain Butler, an English officer who crossed the great country
some little time ago, writes in the most enthusiastic terms of its
scenery, and one cannot do better than quote his picturesque .
words. Says he :

" Nature has here graven her image in such colossal charac-
ters that man seems to move slowly amid an ocean frozen rigid
by the lapse of time — frozen into those things we call mountains,
rivers and forests.

"Rivers whose single length roll twice 2,000 miles of shore
line ! Prairies over which a traveler can steer for weeks without
resting his gaze on aught save the dim verge of the ever-shifting
horizon ! Mountains rent by rivers, ice-topped, glacier seared,
impassable ! Forests whose sombre pines darken a region half
as large as Europe !

" In summer a land of sound ; a land echoed with the voices
of birds ; the ripple of running water ; the mournful music of
the waving pine branch ! In winter a land of silence ; its great
rivers glimmering in the moonlight, wrapped in their shrouds of
ice ; its still forests rising weird and spectral against the auroral
lighted horizon ; its nights s© still that the moving streamers
across the northern skies seem to carry to the ear a sense of*
sound."

The land thus strikingly described has been deemed since
early in 1887 the Eldorado where nature has apparently strewn

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 19

her golden gifts most lavishly. It is to this land that thousands
have wended their way in the hopes of wresting from their
hidden beds enough of these treasures to lift them to opulence.

Not a New Discovery.

The knowledge of these gold fields in the North is not new.
From early in the days of the Russian occupation it has been
known that there were vast deposits of the precious metal in
Alaska, practically under the Arctic Circle.

Year by year the gold fields have attracted adventurous for-
tune seekers, who have gone thither in ever-increasing numbers.
Following the discover}^ of the rich deposits in the Klondike
region, however, there has been an influx of people into these
frozen wilds, such as has never been known before.

The first chance discovery was for a long time virtually held
in secret, not intentionally, but because the lack of transit facil-
ities made it difficult to get the news to civilized communities.
When at length, however, the story of the find was brought
south, and with the story was brought specimens of nuggets and
gold dust which had been found, the news was put upon the
wires and flashed through the length and breadth of the land,
and the excitement caused gave every promise of a repetition of
the memorable scenes which made Cariboo and Cassiar famous
a generation ago.

In New York, in Chicago, in London, in Paris, throughout
the world, the attention alike of rich and poor, was directed to
the marvelously rich, but almost wholly unknown wilds of
Alaska. People talked of the days of '49 and devised a new
slogan, "The days of '97." The rich immediately began to
organize new companies and map out new enterprises, such as
made fortunes for thousands in days of other gold excitements ;
and multitudes of the poor, dissatisfied with their opportunities

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

in districts longer settled and better improved, made haste to
provide their outfits and take passage to the Yukon.

In former days it was *' Pike's Peak or Bust." Now the
watch-word became "On to the Klondike."

In the gold mining regions of Alaska there were, in 1893, not

Aueur

^ PA C/FIC
OCEAN

MAP OF
A. Li ^i^SKA.

•AND ITS-

GOLD FIEIJ)S

more than about 300 miners all told. This number was doubled
practically the following year. Owing to the glowing reports of
successful operators, the number of miners attracted by 1895 was
3000. Probably twice that number of miners and prospectors
invaded the country in 1896.

In 1897 came this furor that caused the Klondike district to
rank with the great historical gold fields of the world. This

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 21

year witnessed the greatest influx of people into the territory on
record, and there was every prospect that the year following
would see the number quadrupled, possible many times over.

Old Diggings Abandoned.

And in the excess of enthusiasm and the wild hurrah raised
when the new fields on the Klondike were discovered the old
diggings were virtually abandoned. For ten years, at least, men
worked placers in the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in
the spring, they went out over the Chilkoot Pass and down the
little chain of lakes on the other side, making long portages, it
is true, and enduring some hardships, to the Yukon River. They
returned to Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them
from ;^2000 to ;^3500 each in gold dust, the product of the
summer's work.

But they were improvident, these men who won gold from
the beds of rivers, and when the spring came they were stranded
financially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they " won
out " some way and got back again to return — unless they had
crossed the divide forever — and repeated the same old story of
excess and extravagance.

They never grew money wise, these grizzled veterans of the
rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they
are of God's people.

Quartz lodes were worked in ten or more districts, some of
which are large and contain many district claims. The ten dis-
tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which
yields ore containing silver, gold and other metals ; Salmon
Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly
gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty
Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay mining district, near Sitka,
gold and silver ; Besner's Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ;

22 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

Fish River mining district, on Norton Sound ; Unga district and
Lemon Creek.

But the furor over Klondike brought revolution. A change
came over the spirit of the miners' dreams.

This country has been seized with the gold fever many times
in the last half century, but never since yellow deposits were
discovered in the Sacramento Valley was there such universal
interest as was displayed over the discovery of gold on the
Yukon and the Klondike. In many districts men and women
talked of nothing else than of the new find. They were enthusi-
astic beyond bounds.

Experienced miners who had spent years in Alaska came to
the front with words of caution and advice to let these enthu-
siasts know that the road to wealth in the Alaskan gold fields
was even more beset with hardships in the way of cold, hunger
and toil than the fields to which they were accustomed, and
with which they had become dissatisfied. The friendly counsel,
however, was disregarded. The one cry was " On to the Klon-
dike," and one and all were apparently seized with the mad fever
to leave civilization and. seek wealth in the wilds.

Made His Blood BoiL

" What makes my blood run faster in my veins is to think
that I have walked all over that gold and that now others are
digging it. It prevents me from sleeping at night.

The speaker was Francois Mercier, a resident of Montreal,
who can claim the hofior of having been one of the first band
of hardy pioneers who raised the American flag over the now
celebrated gold fields of Alaska, and who spent seventeen winters
in that desolate country.

Thousands besides Mercier found it difificult to sleep, and
Alaska suddenly arose from an obscure district, which had ofte'"

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 23

been called the " back dooryard of the United States," into the
most talked of region of America. People then began to learn
something of the history, the resources, the climate and the
future of the country.

They were surprised to find that this vast territory, which was
purchased in i ^6^ by Secretary Seward for half a cent an acre,
had already paid ;^ 103,000,000. This was the returns of thirty
years on an investment of ;^7, 200,000. This enormous sum
they then learned had been derived from furs, herring, salmon,
cod, ivory, whalebone and gold. Gold, of course, was the most
interesting item.

They found at the time of the last census the United States had
taken out ;^76,ooo,ooo in the precious metal. They found that
since then the mines of the country had enriched the world's
gold supply by about ^27,000,000.

Came Like a Whirlwind.

It is no wonder, therefore, that the discovery of gold in the
Yukon region should have come like a whirlwind among the
people and that there should have been such an exodus from the
southern States to the frozen regions of the North. The figures
that came to light then about the Alaskan territory were giant
figures, but they were the exact truth.

From the daya when the Czar of Russia, in his zeal for dis-
covery, sent hi."' 'i^nions to find the fabled land of Vasco da
Gama to the tir.i': of the discovery, the regions lying under the
Arctic Circle had v^ooed but few, and those few were those who
had drifted thither from adjacent territory. The real settlement
of Alaska may, in ^ sense, be called the influx of people that
resulted from the excitement incident to the discovery of gold
on the Klondike.

It was an ca*'/ ^natter to compute what had come to the

24 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

United States from Alaska up to that time, but it was then said
throughout the land, and in thousands of organs, that the sum
which would be added to the world's wealth within a few years
by this territory passed all surmise. Thus hope fanned conjec-
ture and desire. The wealth to be expected was thought to be
a pile of ihoney as mountainous and as sublime as the country
itself.

It is of interest to note in this connection that this territory of
Alaska which was not then declared to be the world's storehouse
of gold, was once offered to the United States by the Emperor
Nicholas, of Russia, for nothing, if our government would
merely pay for the transfer papers and agree by thus accepting
the gift from Russia to bar England from coast territory on the
Pacific. It is also of interest to note that almost similar propo-
sitions were repeatedly made, for the simple reason that no one
suspected that enormous wealth lay hidden under the snows of
this Arctic region.

Precaution of the Russians.

More properly speaking, some did suspect the existence of the
boundless treasure. But those who did, discretely kept it to
themselves, so that the news did not reach the people who might
have profited by it.

It is a singular fact that the existence of gold in quantities
along the tributaries of the Yukon was known to a few men a
century and a half ago. The truth has been held back by the
fur trading companies. They were not after minerals, and they
feared the ruin of their industry, which was in itself a gold mine.
Trappers, explorers, and men who lived with the Indians were
forbidden to tell what they knew on pain of death.

The Russia Fur Company did summarily shoot one man who
grew excited with drink and blabbed. That death is still remem-

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 26

bered in Alaska, having been passed from mouth to mouth, as
is the manner of unlettered peoples. Other fur companies have
done nothing to develop the country and have kept their lips
sealed. They foresaw the effect of a torrent of immigration
Such things cannot be hidden, however. The secret is out at last.

No, such things cannot be kept hidden. They came out, and
the world had the secret as soon as the first ship from the North
reached Seattle with the men who had ** struck it rich," and
brought back with them evidence of their good luck in the shape
of gold dust and nuggets.

Then a state of affairs resulted comparable with the days of
'49. It was said that the world's richest deposit of gold had
been discovered. To the average man in the coast States, who
had been nurtured virtually on stories of vast fortunes easily
made in California, this news was not more acceptable than
exciting.

It was true that the Yukon region was 2000 miles away, across
a trackless desert, over snow-bound mountains, and through
passes beset with dangers. But the fabulous tales of wealth that
were brought south made the distance and the danger practically
sink into insignificance and stimulated all with a desire to brave
the unknown and investigate for themselves the great mineral
belt in the Klondike region.

Evidence of Authorities.

This popular excitement was backed up by the testimony of
men competent to speak of the country and its resources. They
declared unqualifiedly that the gold districts on the Yukon and
Klondike were but a speck in the gold territory of Alaska.
They said that the placer mining which had resulted in such
wealth thus far, was but an indication of the larger wealth to be
acquired by a different process of mining.

26 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

When the miners find it no longer profitable to wash out the
gravel they can attack the conglomerate, where they will be
able to accomplish something by hand labor. Finally, there is
the original source of gold, the veins in the hills. These must
be of enormous value. They must lie untouched until the
proper machinery for obtaining the gold is erected. A clear,
scientific, and authoritative explanation of the geological condi-
tions of the Klondike and neighboring gold-bearing rocks is
furnished by Professor S. F. Emmons, of the United States
Geolological Survey. Professor Emmons said :

** The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet
untouched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles
found in the river gravels, now being washed by the Klondike
miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti-
cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which
carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, b)-
gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate.

Richness of the Soil.

" Many of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big
enough to be called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich
that, as we have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal arc
obtained from the washing of a single panful. That is what is
making the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out
of the dirt by the handful literally."

Hardly had the news of the great find been flashed over the
world when Director of the Mint Preston was asked for his views
as to the Alaskan gold fields and their influence. His words
but added fuel to the flames that were then consuming the
masses. Said he :

" That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered
Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount

J.AND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 27

recently brought out by the steamship companies and miners
returning to the States who went up into the district within the
last eight months.

''Sofar ;^ 1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike district has
been deposited at the mints and assay offices of the United
States, and from information now at hand there are substantial
reasons for believing from ;^ 3,000,000 to 1^4,000,000 additional
will be brought out by the steamers and returning miners sailing
from St. Michael's the last of September or early October next.

" One of the steamship companies states that it expects to
bring out about ;^2,ooo,ooo on its steamer sailing from St. Mich-
ael's on September 30th, and has asked the government to have
a revenue cutter to act as a convoy through the Behring Sea. In
view of the facts above stated I am justified in estimating that
the Klondike district will augment the world's gold supply in
1897 nearly $6,000,000."

Demand for Information.

As might be expected, the prominence given to Alaska by the
discovery of the gold fields, resulted in a demand for a detailed
statement of information as to the country in all its relations.
So little was the country known, however, and so meager were
the reports that had been brought to civilized communities con-
cerning it, that the multitude found it difficult to obtain the
information desired.

How were they to get there ? What was there of interest or
of importance connected with the history and purchase of the
country ? What could be learned of the various industries of
the territory? What of the fauna and flora? What of the
mineral wealth. Under what conditions and amenable to what
laws would the prospectors have to work ? What outfits were
required for safety, comfort and convenience ? What conditions

28 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

of domestic life would those who left their homes in the south
have to face in the unknown regions to which they contemplated
going ? What of the topography of the country they would
have to traverse ?

These and a thousand of other things became matters of
prime importance, and it is to place such information in the
hands of the public that this volume is issued.

A Land of Wonders.

Literally the land of Alaska is a Land of Wonders, a land dif-
fering markedly in its natural features from the districts of the
south and bound to excite the admiration and awe of visitors by
its natural features. These are so unlike the natural phenomena
to be beheld in other parts of United States territory that the
person who ventures into the region of the gold fields will find
himself practically in a new world.

As will be seen in the following chapters, it is a country ot
almost boundless extent where the rivers, the mountains, the
plains, the glaciers, everything, is in keeping with the distances
that have to be traversed by the tourist or the prospector. It is
a land of strange sights and stranger experiences, where much
that is never dreamed of in the south will be found to be the
commonplaces of an unknown people. As will be seen in the
following pages, it is the land of sunless days and moonless
nights ; where Nature apparently has transposed the natural
order of things, as is observed in southern latitudes, and inaugu-
rated a new regime for visitors to wonder and marvel at.

Everything is mapped out on a gigantic scale and is clothed
in such a way with its covering of ice and snow, and its strange
forestation, and is overarched with such peculiar skies, that the
voyager will not marvel less at what he sees than, to revert
again to the opening passage from mythology, Jason and his

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 29

band of adventurers marveled at what they are supposed to have
seen in the fabled land of the Golden Fleece.

The Lfcsson of History.

The story of the history and purchase is not without its touch
of romance and its lesson of wisdom. There is certainly food
for thought in the narrative of a region so boundless in extent
that was once thought so valueless as to be offered as a gift,
owing to the ignorance of the people owning it as to its actual
wealth. Secretary Seward always maintained that it was his
crowning glory to have purchased the Alaskan territory. He
and his staunch supporter, Senator Charles Sumner, always
declared that the country had a future which would make it a
profitable investment for the United States to purchase it at a far
higher figure than had to be given.

The wisdom of their decision in the matter was shown within
a few years after the transfer was made from Russia to the
United States, and, as will be set forth in a chapter to follow,
long before ever gold was discovered in the Klondike region the
purchase money of the United States was returned over and over
again, and the wisdom of Seward and his friends was established
beyond a doubt.

Incident to the purchase and transfer of the territory, grave
international questions arose which are well worthy of the atten-
tion of any one interested in the history of the country and the
development of its latest possession. These are all carefully set
forth in the following pages and will be deemed an acceptable
contribution of information by those who, influenced by the ex-
citement incident to the recent discovery of gold, may wish to
invade the northern regions.

The fauna and flora of the territory, too, are of deep interest,
especially from the fact that for many years one of the chief

30 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

sources of wealth in the country was the furs. The Russians,
who first owned the country, were not slow to recognize the
value of the fur-bearing animals and to develop the industry of
hunting them for their pelts. Following the initial steps taken
by the Russians. John Jacob' Astor sent his army of hunters and
trappers into the northwest and carried the business far beyond
the limits ever dreamed of by the Russians who began it.

Of late years, however, trapping in Alaska has, in a measure,
fallen into abeyance, and in those regions where the miners have
begun their work the difficulty of securing fresh meat has caused
them to drive away all game from the districts invaded. Still it
is of importance to those likely to go to the gold fields to know
that there is still ample field for the hunter, and that fortunes are
even yet to be made in trapping the animals for their furs.

Touching on furs Mr. Olgivie writes :

'* The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray
and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the
number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The
red fox is very common, and a species called the blue is very
abundant near the coast. Marten, or sabie, are also numerous,
as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown.

Value of the Fox Skins.

" It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins
taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other
furs. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious
reasons.

" Game is not now as abundant as before mining began, and
it is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river.

"A boom in mining 'would soon exterminate the game in the
district along the river."

Directly connected with the discovery of gold and of vast

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 31

importance to prospective miners, there is much to be learned
relative to the necessities of those visiting the territory. Prime
among these items of interest is the matter of getting to the
diggings. Many have been deterred from making the trip by
the reported inaccessibility of the gold-bearing region, and the
interminable stretches of the country that have to be traversed
by all who seek fortunes in the wilds.

Route after route has been mapped out until there is scarcely
a way by which it would be possible to go from Sitka to the
Yukon, that has not been laid down as more or less practicable.
It is safe to say that many of the routes outlined for the benefit
of the public are thoroughly impracticable. The mere enumera-
tion and explanation of the many courses prospective miners
may follow, is not less an item of interest than of importance.

Features of the Journey.

To reach the distant fields, it will be necessary for any one to
take an ocean voyage on landlocked arms of the sea, traverse
trackless prairies, skirt mountain ranges, thread rivers lined with
falls and rapids, that are a constant menace to life, andeven,in a
region for a large share of the year covered with an unbroken
blanket of ice and snow, go in sledges or on snow-shoes in a
way that adds to the fatigues and dangers of the journey.

Many are the wild schemes that have been devised by so-called
** tenderfeet," of getting from civilization to the camps, and those
who have had their interest awakened to the extent of wishing
to undertake the journey to Alaska, will welcome a careful state-
ment of the most desirable ways of getting there, and an outline
of the principal courses which may be followed in the under-
taking.

Another matter of importance, and one that is replete with
interest and romance, is the domestic life of the mining region.

32 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

The camps of the North, thus far at least, have been unique in
the great mining enterprises of the world. It is probable that
the days of '97 will be attended by no such forms of hfe and
forms of depravity as marred the days of '49. Many women,
and these in a large measure women of culture and education,
have gone to the north to grace the camp life with their pres-
ence. They have gone, however, with a legitimate and honor-
able purpose in view, and the inaccessibility of the region, and
the dangers and hardships that are reported to attend the jour-
ney to the diggings have had the result of keeping away the lawless
classes.

Camp Life Comparatively Pure.

As a consequence, camp life is pure and better in every way
than it was in the days of the gold excitement in California, and
those who read the following pages will be pleased with the
remarkable contrast that is pointed out.

Immediately on the discovery of gold and its announcement
to the world, grave questions arose as to the . international
boundary between the United States and the British territory, and
it became a matter of importance to miners and prospectors to
study the mining laws of two countries, partly to provide against
personal annoyance and partly to protect their individual inter-
ests. On the opposite sides of the boundary line different sets of
laws and regulations were in force, and miners were expected to
observe the laws obtaining in the respective districts. That these
laws were often disregarded, goes without saying.

Canada, in a grasping spirit of gain, proceeded without delay
to modify her mining laws for her own benefit and to the detri-
ment of Americans who went to the Klondike district. The
old dispute as to boundary and territorial jurisdiction arose, and
for a time there was the prospect of a grave international dis-
pute. Not content to live and let live, Canada undertook to

34 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

impose a tax on all Americans crossmg the real or alleged boun-
dary Ime, and this measure was bitterly opposed by the miners.

Would Keep the Gold.

Further than this, the Dommion Cabmet devised a scheme to
limit the flow of gold to the United States from the diggings,
and this too caused a protest in the entire region, from the fact
that a large percentage of the miners were Americans who had
gone thither on the mere chance of winning fortunes, and who
naturally objected to being taxed for their enterprise and to
being placed in leading strings as to the disposition of whatever
they might acquire In the following pages a digest of the min-
ing laws of both countries, together with the history of the con-
tention that arose and its development to the time of publication,
is given :

In the wild rush for the diggings incident upon the news
coming to the more settled States, thousands of people with no
experience whatever in mining life set out immediately to tempt
fortune in the territory Many of the outfits they provided for
themselves were very curious, and it became necessary for those
furthering the enterprise of the fortune seekers in a commercial
way, to make a schedule of the necessary outfits they should
provide for themselves.

For the most part these specially devised outfits received pub-
iication in the daily press, and then from lack of novelty were
allowed to fall into abeyance and practically be forgotten. As a
result, many of those who took their traps and started for the
overland journey from Juneau and St. Michael's, found themselves,
when on the way, practically destitute of the things which expe-
rience showed to be necessary for effective work.

The fortune seekers were likewise equally without knowledge
of the methods of working claims, should they secure them

L\ND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 36

Very few of the thousands who took their way to the Klondike
region, knew the first thing of how to mine gold. They were
obliged to trust to fortune and pick up from those already in the
field the rudiments of the new calling to which they proposed
to devote themselves. Many, to their sorrow, deplored the fact
that ignorance or oversight had led them to overlook this im-
portant preparation for their work.

*' If I had had but a manual telling me what to provide and
how to do the work on arriving at the diggings, I should have
deemed myself a fortunate person." This was a saying of
almost daily occurence wherever the work of mining was under-
taken by "tenderfeet" from the south. Naturally they worked
at a disadvantage as compared with the men of experience,
who flocked to the new fields from Weare, Circle City and
other camps where mining had been followed for a length of
time. In the following pages all this information, which those
who early flocked to the diggings lacked, has been gathered
together for the instruction and convenience of those who may
propose to make the journey in the future.

Food Question Paramount.

Food is the great problem of life in this district. Cold does
not cause much worry, for men can wrap themselves warmly
enough to guard against loss of life from exposure, but few
things grow in that northern clime and there is a lack of animal
food which can be sacrificed to support the life of man. Hence
enormous prices are charged for provisions.

Reports sent back by the miners in the Klondike region show
that potatoes are twenty- five cents a pound and bacon forty
cents. These are the cheapest articles of diet, and others sell
at proportionate prices based upon the cost of their transporta-
tion to the gold fields as well as upon their power to sustain life.

36 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

Starvation is the real danger that confronts the miner who
goes there in search of gold. Although ten dollars a day is
paid for labor, no man is given work unless he brings some
provisions with him, this being due to the fact that the claim owner
cannot afford to supply his workman with food nor even sell
him any from his own scanty store.

The rapid growth in the population of Alaska has made this
problem seem of sufficient importance to Congress to appropri-
ate ;^5ooo to pay for an investigation of the food resources, and
in addition, under the present law, the experiment stations which
will be established will be entitled to ^15,000 per annum for
their support.

Field for Enterprises.

Apart from all consideration of the discovery of gold and the
excitement incident to it, the Territory of Alaska has a deep
interest for Americans In many lines of commercial enterprise.
The remoteness of the country and its inaccessibility, owing to
poor methods of transit, has thus far had the effect of shrouding
the region in a certain mystery, which lack of interest, appar-
ently, has not cleared away. The rise of the Klondike fever
has opened up to the public the fact that the gold fields are only
one of a number of Interests that claim attention. This is
shown by such reports as the following, which was made by one
who spent many years in the interior of the country.

" It is a prevalent idea that the Alaskan Territor}^ produces
only gold and things of the sea, but this is wrong. Even in
Klondike, which is far removed from the mollifying influences of
the Japanese current, hardy vegetables grow in profusion,
although cauliflower and asparagus will not ripen. Hay is as
high as a man's head. When- the country comes to be better
known it will be found capable of making many things for
humanity now unthought of

CHILKOOT PASS SHOWING SNOW-CAPPED MOUNTAINS

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 37

" Although for some undiscoverable reason, reports have gone
abroad that there is no game, the fact remains that there is
plenty of it. Moose, elk and cariboo, or the American reindeer,
abound. Every river is stocked with fish. No man should
starve who has a hook and a flint-lock musket. When we were
school children we used to read of the musk-oxen of Alaska,
but none are there. The musk-ox is not found in America any-
where west of the great continental divide, or Rocky Mountains."

Another Fine Possibility.

Professor Allen thinks Alaska has before it a great future as a
stock-raising country, and declares that stock can be raised there
as successfully as in Montana or Wyoming. At present, how-
ever, there are practically no domestic animals in the country,
the chief being reindeer. Explorers will experiment and learn
what domestic animals are best adapted to the climate.

Sheep, pigs and goats can live there with proper treatment,
and it is thought that, in the islands of the coast, they will
flourish all winter on the wild grasses, even if left to their
own devices. Farther north and in the interior it is probable
they would have to be sheltered during the two or three months of
the severest weather. Poultry can probably be raised to advantage.

It has been the aim in the following pages to gather together,
from every possible source, such information relative to the min-
eral wealth, the fisheries, the agricultural development, the
ethnology of the country and all similar lines of interest such as
would naturally be sought by a public whose interest had been
aroused by the recent developments in the Territory, and to give
as fully as possible the story of the rise of the Klondike fever,
with all the wealth of romantic experiences and fortunate dis-
coveries that has been made public since Alaska stepped so
prominently into notice.

38 LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS.

The narrative, in a sense, will of necessity read like a chapter
of fiction, for the camp life of the Klondike, like the camp life
of similar regions, has its light and shade, its amenities and
hardships, its peculiarities and its streaks of fortune, that will
ever be of interest to those who have a love of the unusual and
the unexp'icted. Miners' experiences, in a district so remote,
must ever have the element of oddity, and this, coupled with
the peculiar characteristics of life in a region which is little less
than a new world, makes the story of the Yukon, as the follow-
ing pages will show, one virtually of romance.

What Gold Seekers Will Find.

The Argonauts of 1898 will see that their contemplated
journey is as likely to be one of good luck as of disappointment ;
that the journey Is as likely to be one of delight as of hardship;
and that, while they are leaving home with all its comforts and
conveniences, and society with its pleasures, for a country devoid
for the most part of the experiences of ordinary life, they are
going to a wilderness, nevertheless, in which they will find, dis-
guised it may be, cut short it may be, a fair quota of what they
have been used to.

Further, the Argonauts of 1898 will not be content with the
answers to their questions that literature will give them. They
will want and long to read the great unwritten- book of Alaska on
the plains and glaciers, along the rivers and passes of the vast
territory. Their desire will simply be whetted by printed stories
and their longing will be that of Joaquin Miller. Says the Poet
of the Sierras :

" You want to ask questions. You wonder why the other
islands of black-white mountains, a thousand of them on either
hand, so stupendous, so steep, so sublimely majestic, mysterious,
solemn and silent, are so voiceless, so utterly empty and still.

LAND OF THE ARGONAUTS. 39

•

" You want to ask questions of Alaska, but Alaska is the
sphinx with a forehead of gold. We have now steamed up the
straits and out and away, from under the mantle of fire and gold
that hung above Juneau and Douglas City — a mantle woven in
some sort from the smoke and chemicals of the great gold mine
— and the morning is crisp, blue, white, clear as a bell.

" If one cared to look on the gray side of the situation, he
might easily write of the location and all the land about " the
abomination of desolation." But, on the contrary, the scene is
grand, grand, sublimely grand, and the air is sweet, healthful
and invigorating as wine. The heavens' breath smells wooingly
here. You never saw snow so white anywhere as here.

" White as snow ; whiter than any miller can whiten. This
is because this is a land of granite ; no dust in the air as in Cali-
fornia or Colorado ; no tall trees to scatter bits of bark and
leaves and litter through the air and over the snow. One con-
stantly thinks of the transfiguration all along this land of white-
ness and blue ; white clouds, white snow, blue seas and blue
skies. Heavens ! Had I but years to live here and lay my
hand upon this color, this fearful and wonderful garment of the
most high God 1 "

CHAPTER 11.
Spread of the Klondike Fever.

Arrival of the Portland with More than a Ton of Gold on Board — Miners
Tell of their Marvelous Strikes — Gold and the Aborigines — First Great
Gold Craze — Prospecting in Early Days — Rich Gold Discovery on
Bonanza Creek — Argonauts Flock to the Steamers — Scenes at the
Wharves — Companies Formed in Response to the Rush — Millions of
Money and Thousands of Men — Craze in Wall Street — Royalty Affected
— Money in Grub-stakes — Joaquin ' Miller Under Way — "Lucky"
Baldwf** After Mother Lode — Bright and Dark Sides of Story.

WHEN the steamer Portland reached Seattle from St.
Michael's, Alaska, on July 17, 1897, bringing not
only the verified news of the great gold discoveries in
the upper Yukon region, but nearly a million and three quarters
in gold " dust" as freight, beside a cabin full of bronzed miners
to bear witness to the Golconda-like find, not only the Pacific
coast, but the whole northern country as well, whether British
or American, began to go stark, staring mad over the well-nigh
incredible reports from the new diggings. Some of the miners
had with them ;^75,ooo and even twice that sum, and not a man
had less than ;^3000, every ounce taken from the placers of the
Klondike within the year.

Over a Ton of Gold.

More than a ton of gold was on board the steamer as it
came up the sound. In the captain's cabin were three big
chests full of the yellow " dust," and the large safe had no
room for more of the precious nuggets which had been taken
out of the ground in less than three months of last winter.
In size the nuggets ranged from that of a pea to a guinea
hen's egg.
40

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 41

Surely, it was enough to set the land wild with excitement.

And yet, it was no news there was gold in and near Alaska, and

in fabulously paying quantities. The marvelous tales of wealth

sent out by the California pioneers were no less wonderful than

those brought back by men who had braved the last cold season

in the frigid mineral belt. The great Klondike strike was made

in the early winter of 1 896-97, but nothing was known of it in

the United States until June 15, 1897, when the Excelsior

arrived in San Francisco laden with Klondike miners who were

in turn laden with gold. Then came the Portland and the

*' craze."

" Chechockoes " Make Their Piles.

In speaking of the miners who came out on the Portland,
Captain Kidston was enthusiastic.

"These men," said Captain Kidston, "are every one what the
Yukoners call * Chechockoes ' or newcomers, and up to last
winter they had nothing. To-day you see them wealthy and
happy. Why, on the fifteen days' trip from St. Michael's I
never spent a pleasanter time in my life. These fortunate people
felt so happy that anything would suffice for them, and I could
not help contrasting them with the crowd of gold hunters I
took with me on the last trip up. They were grumblers, with-
out a cent in the world, and nothing on the boat was good
enough for them. Some of these successful miners do not even
own claims. They have been working for other men for ;^ 1 5 a
day, and thus have accumulated small fortunes. Their average
on this boat is not less than ;^ 10,000 to the man, and the very
smallest sack is ;^3000. It is heir' ' y C. A. Branan, of Seattle,
a happy young fellow just eighteen years old. There is no
country on earth like the Yukon."

Gold has been a familiar metal to the Alaskan aborigines for
a time that is old even in their legends, but, lacking civilization,

42 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

they lacked also the knowledge of the highest use of the pre-
cious metal, and the yellow nuggets which they gathered from
the beds of their Arctic streams played no other part than that
of savage ornaments (intil the land passed under the dominion
of the white man.

The earliest white voyagers to the Aleutian coasts had their
cupidity kindled, like the soldiers of Cortez and Pizarro, by the
bits of gold shining here and there among the barbarous trap-
pings of the natives who came, half menacing, to the iron-girt
coasts to barter with them for the rare treasures of sharp knives
and gaudy fabrics, but, beyond the trivial ounces secured in
shorewise trade, it was years after white sails had become familiar
sights, winging their intricate way among the devious channels
of the island-dotted coast, th^t civilized men began to think it
worth the peril to brave the dangers of the iron land in quest of
the golden stores Nature had so lavishly treasured in the strong-
holds of her cliffs and torrents.

Behring Found Gold.

When Behring, after whom the great Northwestern sea beyond
the Aleutian Island is named, discovered and explored the
Alaskan coast in 1741, he found gold, but he found, as befitted
the climate and people, more furs and, with auriferous supplies
nearer home in the convict-worked mines of the Czar's domain,
the country was granted for fur-gathering purposes alone by the
Emperor Paul to the Russo-American Fur Company, and with
it remained until the Seward purchase in 1867 transferred it to
the United States for a consideration (long since repaid in full)
of ;^ 7, 200,000.

Mineral riches were hinted at, however, by the early explor-
ers. In 1885 the director of the mint credited Alaska with
^300,000 in gold and ^5^2000 in silver, most of the precious

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 43

metal coming from Douglas Island. In 1896 the total output
of lode anJ placer mines in Alaska was put at ;^4,670,ooo and
in 1897 the gold output, it is estimated, will reach ;^ 1 0,000,000,
or nearly twice that of Colorado in 1892.

%*The first great gold craze in the extreme Northwest came in
1858. The Kootenai region was famous a few years ago, per
petuating the fame of the Frazer River mines. The Cariboo
region on the fifty-third parallel, proved a steady and constant
producer. Placers were also worked on the Peace river. In
the 6o's there was a period when the annual production oi the
northwest province exceeded ;^2,ooo,ooo, the highest figure
being ;^3, 73 5,850. Through the exhaustion of the known
deposits, however, the product fell off until, in 1 890, it was less
than half a million.

Prospecting in 1883.

Charles McConky, Ben Beach, George Marx and Richard
Poplin set out from Juneau in the spring of 1883 to prospect
the interior for gold. The rich deposits which were making the
Treadwell mine famous had stimulated inquiry among practical
miners, and science had answered that the mother lode lay
somewhere waiting to be tapped in the fastnesses of the giant
Rockies. The quartette meant to find it. Crossing the divide
in the early spring, they reached the lakes which constitute
the head waters of the Yukon River, while they were yet frozen,
and remained there building their boats preparatory to going
down the river as soon as the opportunity availed. The boats
built and the ice having disappeared, they continued their
journey on the unknown waters of the Yukon.

Upon arriving at the mouth of Stewart River and being favor-
ably impressed that their fortunes lay in that direction, they
proceeded to stem this stream in the hopes of finding things

44 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

more favorable, as they had seen nothing that they had con-
sidered diggings up to that time. They had traveled about four
miles up this river when they came to a bar that carried gold
of a fine order, and then continued up the river, finding many
bars which were afterwards worked to the satisfaction of the
owners.

Dr. C. F. Dickenson, of Kadiak Island, which lies just at the

A PROSPECTOR S TENT.

mouth of Cook's Inlet, says : " When I left Kodiak, two weeks
ago, the people were leaving all that section of country and
flocking in the direction of Klondike. In a way, the situation is
appalling, for many of the industries a^e left practically without
the means of operation.

" Mines that were paying handsomely at Cook's Inlet have
been deserted.

X
L>

a.
O

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 45

" In my opinion there are just as good placer diggings to be
found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region.

" There is not a foot of ground in all that country that does
not contain gold in more or less appreciable quantities.

" There is room there for thousands of men, and there is cer-
tainly no better place in the world for a poor man."

There is good reason for believing from the reports of men
well acquainted with the whole region that there is gold to be
found anywhere in Alaska. The streams flowing into the great
salt channel which bounds the coast below Sitka bear many
auriferous evidences, and several of them, as for example in the
neighborhood of Fort Wrangel, have been worked successfully
heretofore. Some, indeed, have been literally ''washed" out.

J. W. McCormick's Strike.
^ The richest gold placers in the upper Yukon were discovered
by a white man in August, 1896. The find was due to the
reports of Indians. J. W. McCormick, a Scotchman, who had
been in the employ of William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor,
for seven years in the same region, was the lucky prospector.
He located a claim on the branch of the Klondike, which has
since become known to fame as Bonanza Creek. McCormick
located late in August, 1896, but had to cut some logs for the
mill to get a few pounds of provisions to enable him to begin
work on his claim. The fishing of Klondike having totally failed
him, he returned with a few weeks' provisions for himself, his
wife and brother-in-law (Indians) and another Indian in the last
days of August, and immediately set about working his claim.
As he was very short of appliances he could only put together
a rather defective apparatus to wash the gravel with. The gravel
itself he had to carr)' in a box on his back from thirty to one
hundred feet. Notwithstanding this the three men, working

PLACER MINING ON THE KLONDIKE RIVER.

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 4«,

very irregularly, washed out ;^I200 in eight days, and McCormick
asserts with reason that had he had proper facilities it could have
been done in two days, besides having several hundred dollars
more gold which was lost in the tailings through defective
apparatus.

On the same creek two men rocked out $'j^ in about four
hours, and it is asserted that two men in the same creek took
out ;^40o8 in two days with only two lengths of sluice boxes.

A branch of Bonanza named Eldorado has prospected mag-
nificently, and another branch named Tilly Creek has prospected
well ; in all there are some four or five branches to Bonanza
which have given good prospects. There were about one hun-
dred and seventy claims staked on the main creek in the summer
of '97, and the branches are good for about as many more^
aggregating say three hundred and fifty claims, which will
require over one thousand men to work properly.

Spread of Klondike Fever.

The Klondike fever spread wherever telegraph wires and
newspapers disseminated the wonderful news of the marvelous
diggings.

The Londoner, educated to gold fevers by the Rand and
Barney Barnato, began besieging the trans-Atlantic transporta-
tion companies for intelligence about Alaska and the gold region
of his own Northwest Territory. Experienced gold miners from
South Africa thought they saw a bigger stHke than the one which
had lured them to the Cape of Good Hope. The new Canadian
Trans- Atlantic line began work at once on a fleet of new boats.

In America, capitalists and poor men, Argonauts and " tender-
feet " went well-nigh crazy — literally daft with the mania for
gold. In the cities of the Pacific coast employes in all industries
threw down their tools and abandoned their pursuits to go to

48 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

Alaska and dig in the river bed for the shining nuggets. In
Tacoma and Seattle telegrams were received from New York
and London inquiring how many hundred men could be
equipped on short notice for a journey to the gold fields. The
street car employes of Tacoma, at a mass meeting, selected nine
men to go to the Klondike for the benefit of the rest to prospect
and locate claims, and raised a sufficient sum to equip and main-
tain them.

Hardly had the news of the Klondike strike got fairly started
in its meteor-like circuit of the country than Seattle and Tacoma
began to fill with men and women hurrying to the diggings.
In a week beds could not be had at the hotels, and still the
throngs of gold-seekers poured in from all directions except the
West, and struggled and schemed and, in a bloodless way, fought
for fabulous priced chances to sail for the Yukon mines. First
cabin, steerage, 'tween-decks or "on deck" — it was all one to
these feverish Argonauts so long as they found themselves
under way to Eldorado.

Scene on " Steamer Day."

Here is a sample description of a Tacoma scene on ** steamer
day," August /th, when the Willamette cast off for Alaska:

" The most excited and largest crowd of people that has ever
gathered on the ocean docks in this city, on any occasion,
gathered to-day to see the steamer Willamette off for Alaska.
Four hundred people boarded the vessel here, and their friends
and relatives and thousands of sight-seers gathered to see the
start. The passengers came from all parts of the State and a
sprinkling from all over the United States. The baggage was
carried mostly on horseback, only a few mules being used.
The pack trains marched through the city in droves, and Grand
Army men said it reminded them of war times.

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

'*A11 sorts of outfits for making money were taken aboard,
from a bakery to gambling tables. Nearly every person aboard
has a list of from six to three dozen persons who had been
promised letters. Fathers parted from families and young men

from their sweethearts at
the docks. Not a few of
the men have pledged
their families and friends
that they will not return
from the Eldorado of the
North, until they have
amassed a fortune, if it
takes ten years to accom-
plish it.

"Aboard this vessel,
Tacoma sent forward its
first installment of physi-
cians and surgeons to the
Klondike. The doctors
will dig for nuggets, if
they cannot get patients."
Here is another scene
on "steamer day," de-
scribed by an eye-witness :
" The Alki started for
Alaska this afternoon with
125 passengers, 800 sheep
OFF FOR THE MINES. and 50 horses. Crazed

with the gold fever and the hope of reaching Klondike quickly,
the passengers bade good-bye to thousands on shore, who were
crazed because they could not go. Food, comfort, sleep were
ignored in the fierce desire to get to the gold fields. Those

50 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER

who could not go to Alaska stayed on the dock all day, shaking
hands with those who were going, and gazing with eyes of chagrin
and envy on the lucky ones as the steamer started for the North.
" There was grim pathos in the scene on the dock while the
goldhunters were waiting for permission to go on board. Some
were taking passage who would surely never leave Alaska alive.
They had heard stories of the returned miners, that health was
an absolute requisite in the terrible climate of the Klondike
district. They smiled and knew better.

The Ruling Passion.

" One man said he was suffering from lung trouble, but that
he might as well die making a fortune as to remain on the shores
of Puget Sound and die in poverty.

*' Not an inch of room was left on the Alki. It was tested to
its utmost capacity. Excited men, drunk with visions of fortunes,
were huddled among the sheep, horses and baggage. Space
was valuable, and a cattle pen had been constructed on the main
deck, which had hitherto been reserved for passengers. The
sheep were put on board only after the crowd had been driven
back from the steamer. On the main deck the horses and sheep
will stay until the journey by water is ended. When port is
reached the pen will be reduced to its original state and the
lumber put to new use."

The same day the Willamette steamed out cf Tacoma the
Queen sailed from Seattle with 400 passengers for Dyea. And
over twenty steamers were then due to sail before September ist
and passage on any one was already at a premium. New
charters were being made daily and three schooners and even
two scows were pressed into service in Seattle the day the Queen
sailed. It is estimated Seattle has supplied already 3500 pros-
pectors and Tacoma 1600.

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVEK. 51

Chicago became a centre for Klondike news and outfitting at
the start of the craze. Over five hundred men had either left
the Windy 'City, or were practically ready to leave, for the
Klondike, at the end of the first week in August, and the fever
had only been in the air three weeks. All sorts and descriptions
of men were in the ranks of prospectors — lawyers, doctors,
merchants, bankers, farmers and city men, stalwart giants and
men whose physique gave promise rather of a grave beside the
trail than of lasting long enough to " wash " a fortune out of the
frozen Alaskan gravel. And there were women, too, in plenty,
considering the hardships to be encountered, who were just as
anxious to get into the wilderness to locate claims as any man
who wore boots in the crowd.

Deny Women and Weaklings.

In fact, so great did the rush of women and of men of seem-
ingly weak physique become, that many transportation agents at
last refused to book any but those evidently the most robust,
lest they should die enrcute to Dawson. This order was later
revoked as to women.

Among those who went from Chicago in early August were
William H. Hubbard, in the party of Mrs. Eli Gage and her
brother, W. W. Weare, going to Dawson to take the manage-
ment of the banking system to be established by the North
American Transportation and Trading Company in every mining
camp in Alaska ; Dr. G. E. Meryman, Gustave Peterson and his
two sons, Daniel Wright, Joseph Roman, F. J. Richardson,
Mortimer Stevens, Dr. C. W. Chamberlain and wife, F. M.
Sessoies and wife, F. H. Searle, E. H. Craig and Miss Alice
Ross. Miss Minnie Goddard, the well-known organist and
pianiste of Aurora, 111. ; Miss Grace Allaire, daughter of the
late Dr. Alhirc, of the same city, and Mrs. Ira W. Lewis, of

52 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

Dixon, 111., were three refined and dainty who left with a party
of Chicago to cast in their lot with the masculine argonauts in
the land of frozen gravel and marvelous " pans."

Montreal sent out three parties the first and second weeks in
August, numbering altogether some fifty men. They were in
charge respectively of Ernest Genest, representing the Canadian-
Yukon Company; C. J. McQuaig, for the Montreal- London
Gold and Silver Development Company, limited ; and W. H.
Scroggic, the St. Catherine Street dry-goods merchant, whose
companoins were principally his employes.

Ex-Governor John H. McGraw and General E. M. Carr left
Seattle for Alaska on the first steamer out after the Portland
arrived with its golden cargo — as luck would have it, the steamer
was the treasure boat, the Portland itself They went as the
representatives of the Yukon, Caribou, British Columbia Gold
Mining Development Company, limited, capital ;^ 1,000,000.
J. Edward Addicks, of Delaware, is the head of the company
and Senator John L. Wilson is interested in it.

Craze in Wall Street.

On July 31st, so early had the Klondike fever reached the
great money centres of the land, the following report from Wall
Street was sent over the country :

" Wall Street has been seized by a genuine * '49 ' gold fever
as a result of the discoveries in the Klondike. Men who have
mined and made money ; men who have mined and lost money ;
men who have always thought they might speculate a little in
mining, and men who have had a complete abhorrence of mining
- — all seem to be affected the same way. More than half a dozen
banking concerns, and as many individuals in Wall Street, whose
standing in the financial world is the very best, have actually
turned away from ;^5000 to ;^ 125,000 each which clients and

MINERS' CABINS NEAR DAWSON CITY

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 53

customers wished to invest, under their guidance and supervision
in the great gold fields of Alaska. Ladenburg, Thalman & Co.,
H. L. Horton & Co., Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., R. P. Lounds-
berry & Co., and Charles Head & Co., are some of these firms
who have more money offered them for investment in the Klon-
dike than they have desired. The prejudice against mining is
waning. Only recently bankers who dabbled in mines were
looked upon with about as much suspicion by their customers
and the money world as a bank clerk or cashier who regularly
played faro, roulette and the races. But that is wearing off and
the best concerns are beginning to mine in one way or another.
Among these various down-town banking and business houses
who are either interested in the Klondike, who have sent a rep-
resentative there for themselves or customers, or who have made
up their minds to do so, are R. P. Loundsberry & Co., N. Gug-
genheim Sons, Kean, Van Cortlandt & Co., Nicholas Chemical
Company, H. B. Hollins & Co., H. L. Horton & Co., Charles
Head & Co., and Seligman & Co.

Heard from Grub-stakers.

Seven men living near Trenton, N. J., ''grub-staked" by busi-
ness men of Trenton and merchants of Philadelphia, started in
April for the Alaska gold fields. W. J. Hibbert headed the
expedition. He writes that they have laid claim to eighty miles
of dredger land, and have received a grant of twenty-one placer
claims, which will be added to the dredger lands. He says that
the ground is rich, and within a mile and a half of their claim
a man by the name of Lereno, after working five days, found,
on clearing up, that he was worth ;^40,ooo in gold. Another
story told by Hibbert in his letter is that another miner, after
two months' work, was $ 1 50,000 to the good.

Daniel Guggenheim, of the firm of M. Guggenheim &

64 SPREA.D OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

Sons, who has large smelting interests, when seen at his Long
Branch cottage, confirmed the reported discoveries in the Yukon
country, and prophesied that the new fields would yield far in
excess of even present roseate indications. He said :

** For some time my firm has had expert mining engineers at
work in Alaska, and their reports leave no doubt that the Yukon
gold fields will prove the richest in the world. My opinion is
that as soon as the country has been opened up and shipping
facilities furnished the output of gold will be simply enormous.
As the production of gold increases silver will be enhanced
in value. This I regard as certain."

English Royalty Affected.

English royalty fell before the golden idol of the Klondike.
No less a personage than the Duke of Fife, son-in-law of the
Prince of Wales, subscribed to an incorporation formed in Lon-
don for the purpose of exploring the Klondike region and pur-
chasing such mines as its accredited representatives may decide
are worth the investment.

The enterprise will be known as the Klondike Exploration
Company, limited. It is stated that the company in which the
Duke of Fife is interested will operate along lines similar to
the British South Africa Company.

But great as was the number, considering the time available
for catching a good hard case of the Klondike fever, who had
succeeded in getting away for the diggings in person before the
marvelous news from the Northwest was yet a month old ; they
were but a fraction of the total, who had fallen ready victims
to the '* placer malady."

Many hundreds of men and many more hundreds of women, who
were crazy to own some kind of an interest in the wonderful gold
fields, but who were prevented by other business, by family cares,

' , SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 55

by sickness of a strictly pathological kind, by poverty, or by
other insuperable reasons, from taking personal part with the
adventurers going into the Klondike, had syndicated their money
with their friends and arranged to send " grub-stakers " into the
new Galconda, hoping thus vicariously, at least, to partake of
the profits, if they could not share in the hardships and the
hazards of gold seeking.

It is estimated that at least five times as many people put up
their money on " grub-stakes " as attempted to become advent-
urers in person, and it would require a much larger figure to
express the probable ratio of the money applied to outfitting
representative prospectors and the cash spent in personal equip-
ment by intending argonauts.

Besides this, in estimating the prevalence of the gold craze in
terms of dollars and cents, account must be taken of the mush-
room-like appearance of ^'Mining Co-operations " and " Placer
Syndicates" and ''Poor Men's Chances," to say nothing of the
host of legitimate incorporated mining or prospecting or develop-
ment concerns, which by presenting shares at low figures, draw
tens of thousands of dollars from thousands of pockets into their
coffers and which quite as emphatically represented the virulence
of the Klondike fever as did the steamer lists, or the names of
those who meant to brave the Chilkoot Pass with the slogan
Df " Klondike or Bust."

Table of New Companies.

No better illustration of the extent and vigor of the Klondike
craze can be given than is exhibited in the following table of
companies organized or in process of formation for the develop-
ment of the gold fields in the upper Yukon region. The total
capitalization of the different syndicates foots up ;^ 164, 5 12,500.
After allowing for the regular syndicate grain of salt, the

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

remaining total is still vast enough to indicate that no small
portion of the American temperate zone has gone daft over the
reported strikes in the Arctic mountains.

The stream of humanity, setting toward the north pole, is a
veritable exodus toward a new Land of Promise. Up to August
8th, over 8000 men are officially reported to have started for the
Klondike, or made arrangements to do so.

Statistics of Millions.

Here are the naked figures :

Companies. Town.

Bohemian Klondike Syndicate Baltimore . .

Three Syndicates Boston . . .

Cudahy-Healy- Yukon Klondike Mining
Company Chicago . . .

Alaska Transportation and Development

Company Chicago . . .

Transportation and mining company in

processor organization, not yet named . Chicago. . .

Wilkins Syndicate Cleveland. .

Unnamed syndicate Cleveland . .

Two companies Cripple Creek

Alaska-Klondike Gold Mining and De-
velopment Company Col. Springs.

Council Bluffs Mining and Exploration
Company Council Bluffs

Six companies Denver . . .

Indiana Mining Company Indianapolis

General Mining and Developing Co. . . Kansas City .

Herald Employees Lexington .

Lincoln Gold and Improvement Co. . . Lincoln . . .

Acme Development Company New York .

Yukon-Caribou British Columbia Gold

Mining Development Company . . . New York .

Northwest Mining and Trading Company. New York .

Exploration Syndicate New York .

No. who
Capital- have left
ization. for gold

fields.

120

150

Not decided

150,000

25,000,000 500

5,000,000

100,000,000 .

4,000 .

. .

400 .

300,000

1,000,000 .

• •

100,000

2,825,000

200,000 .

. .

Not tinned.

1,000

50,000

150,000

100

5,000,000 .

100,000 ,

, ,

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

500,000 62C

1,200 . . .

50,000 . . .

1,000,000 . . .

900 . . .

The Gold Syndicate ". . New York . . 5,000,000 . .

The New Vork and Alaska Gold Explo-
ration and Trading Company New York . . 1,000,000 . . .

Norse-American Gold Company (Ltd.) . New York . . 750,000 . . .

The Philadelphia and Alaska Gold Mining

Syndicate Philadelphia . 500,000 52

Alaska Gold Company Pittsburg . . . 1,000,000 . . .

Pittsburg- Alaskan Company Pitisburg , . . 25,000 . . ,

Four transportation companies Portland, Ore. a

Two trading companies Portland, Ore.

Six mining companies Portland. Ore.

McDonald Syndicate St. Louis . . .

Minnesota-Ontario Gold Mining Co. . . St. Paul , . .

Klondike Mining Company, St. Paul . . St. Paul . . .

Yukon-Klondike Mining and Investment
Company St. Paul . . 5,000,000 . . .

Eight companies San Francisco . 800,000 1,400

Unnamed syndicate San Francisco . 1,000,000 . . .

Klondike Commercial and Transportation

Company Seattle .... 1,000,000 3,500

SeattleandYukon Commercial Company. Seattle .... 1,000,000 . . .

Alaska Transportation Company. . . .Seattle .... 100,000 . . .

Dodwell and Corlill Steamship Company. Tacoma. . . . 250,000 1,600

Twenty-one syndicates Tacoma. . . . 755,000 . . .

Old Miners Catch the Fever.
Old minens on the Pacific slope supplied some of the earliest
victims of the fever and some of the first recruits in the rapidly-
swelling aimy of the gold seekers. The rush to the Klondike
seriously affected the mine owners on the mother lode in the
vicinity of Senora, Jackson and Sutter Creek, California, and
threatened to cause the closing down of the mines in Calaveras,
Amador and Tualumne counties. A large party of skilled
miners from this region sailed from San Francisco for Alaska on
August 7th, and another party was then forming which expected
to go in by way of Dyea before the winter grasp of September
was upon the passes. The Oneida and Kennedy mines, near

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVilR. 5J

Jackson, had lost the majority of their men before the news by
the Portland was ten days old.

Joaquin Miller Among the First.

Nor was the rush to the new diggings confined to the wage-
earning miners. One of the first of the '49ers to respond was
Joaquin Miller, '* the Poet of the Sierras." The steamer Port-
land made port from St. Michael's with its wonderful cargo oi
yellow dust and nuggets on July 17th, and on the 26th of the
same month the venerable and veteran miner of the earliest
California and Nevada and Idaho gold fields had forsaken his
cozy home nestled among the foothills of Oakland, and was
steaming out of the harbor of Victoria, B. C, on the good ship
City of Mexico, bound with pick, pan and pack like any other
lover of roughing it, on the long road to Dyea and over the
Chilkoot Pass to the Klondike.

Some of his impressions enroute will be found elsewhere in
this volume, and their bright, buoyant wording shows the Klon-
dike fever could set the blood throbbing as fiercely in senile
veins as in the arteries of the most recklessly sanguine lad of a
** tenderfoot " that ever went to the mines to learn that all is not
gold that glitters. One of the aged poet's fancies was to pack
his own outfit in and earn his living by day's work, and to make
his election sure he carried a ridiculously small sum of money
with him, though he had a buckskin bag all ready for the
" dust " he expected certainly to find even more lavishly distri-
buted in the Yukon valley than in California in the golden days
when the bed of every stream held a yellow fortune.

E. J. Baldwin, of San Francisco, better known as ** Lucky "
Baldwin, millionaire hotel man, miner, landowner, turfman and
orange grower, himself a California argonaut of the days of '49,
who had had hard attacks in his time of the Washoe and

60 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

Frazer River gold fevers, was another of the first " big " men on
the coast to catch the Alaska fever.

The millionaire announced his intention to go to the Klon-
dike, not to seek the great nuggets and coarse grains of gold
found in the creek beds, but to find, if possible, the ledge, the
mother lode from which all this treasure comes. He will not
go in until spring, however.

" I will not stop at Klondike," said he, " but will push right
into the mountains, where I am sure there must be rich quartz
ledges. Ample machinery will be shipped to Dawson or else-
where, if I succeed in locating a paying claim. I think the big
fortunes will be made in the quartz districts and not in the
placers, which will be sure to give out if so many thousands of
people will persist in rushing into the country.

" I am going next spring," continued Mr. Baldwin, *' and
expect to take twenty-five or thirty husky young men with me
who can work and endure the hardships. I am seventy-one
years old, but still feel strong enough to do a little prospecting.
It is also my intention to take a lot of machinery along for lode
mining. My notion of the situation there is that the placer
mining they are carrying on is an indication that there is gold in
large quantities back in the mountains. I shall hunt out these
deposits, and, equipped with modern machinery, will do a regu-
lar mining business. I am convinced the gold is there ; conse-
quently, I will be taking no long-risk chances."

" Lucky's " Idea of an Outfit.

Mr. Baldwin also gave his ideas of the provisions a man
starting to the Klondike should provide himself with. He
excluded coffee and ham from the supplies, would fill a box with
articles of this sort, giving the amount for one month's use :

Chocolate, 7^ pounds, or tea, 3^ pounds; rolled oats,

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SPREAD OF THE KT.ONDIKE FEVER. 61

pounds; navy beans, 22 1^ pounds, or bacon, 37J^ pounds;
flour, 30 pounds; salt, 3^ pounds; pickles, 60 cents' worth;
cayenne pepper, J/^ pound for eighteen months, four cakes dry
yeast.

Wonderful Letter of G. H. Cole.

Some of the stories told about the marvelous golden wealth
of the Klondike would be ample excuse for the worst recorded
cases of the fever. Here is one written from Dawson City by
G. H. Cole to his wife in Seattle, which speaks for itself Mr.
Cole says :

"This is a wonderful country. There is enough gold here to
load a steamboat. Lots of men have made all they want since
last fall, and gone out. There is hardly a day but there is from
one to half a dozen come from the mines with all the gold they
can carry. One man had so much he had to get several men to
help him carry it out. He gave the mine to a friend to do what
he wanted with it. He was a Seattle man. .

" Some of the men who have been out to the mines say there
is more gold here than they ever saw in their lives, and some of
the old miners, who have been in most all the mining countries
in the world, say it beats anything they ever saw. Around
some of the camps they have it piled up like farmers have their
wheat, and in other camps they have all their cooking utensils
full of gold and standing in corners as if it were dirt. Some
are taking out ;^ 100,000 a day. Old miners say there has been
enough gold located to dig up for the next twenty years."

Many and queer are the schemes that have grown out of the
Klondike craze, and the more and the queerer they are the more
virulent is the attack. The very air is full of schemes ; some
alluring, some preposterous, more merely audacious. The gold
fever marked the heyday of the dreamer and the enthusiast, not
to say the crank.

62 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

But some attention is worth paying to these projects of vision-
aries if for no other reason than to show how far-reaching and
insidious is the Klondike mania — for dreamers have little merit
unless there are enough of people who believe in dreams.

"If I were to give you the details of some of the schemes
that have been submitted to me recently for making money in
the Klondike," said one Chicago capitalist, '' you would think
some insane asylum had been thrown open, and the inmates
turned loose. Some of the ideas are not bad in themselves, but
are impracticable owing to the conditions of the country. Others
are simply the rankest form of lunacy, while others yet are
downright swindles. People who would not even think of sug-
gesting a fraud in connection with ordinary business have no
hesitation in boosting up a fraud in a mining boom. As a rule,
however, the irresponsible schemers are merely wild-eyed cranlvs,
who have an honest confidence in their own plans."

Traps for Ready Money.

Inventors, speculators, promoters, and prospectors are going
about like modern genii with propositions for making everybody
immensely rich. Acquiring great wealth depends solely upon
immediate use of a little ready money. Shares in the Consoli-
d.ited Trans-Alaskan Gopher Company, offered at one dollar each,
will return dividends of ten dollars a minute as soon as the com-
pany gets to work. The idea is to take contracts for tunneling
claims with trained gophers. Nothing is impossible, nothing
chimerical.

Men with seedy garments and faces bearing all too plainly the
marks of hunger and want, rub elbows with portly, well-fed
individuals and talk ghbly about millions to be had iiv various
ways. Newspapers are full of advertisements calling for finan-
cial aid in developing Alaskan projects, offices of transportation

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 63

lines are besieged by hundreds of impecunious beings who seek
to make their wits pay the price of passage to the Eldorado,
and on every street corner people are encountered with Klondike
schemes in varying forms of development. Women have the
craze as badly as men ; and some of their hobbies are, if any-
thing, even more outlandish.

But while the schemes and yarns of visionaries, charlatans and
cranks are worth laughing at for their absurdity or avoiding for
their concealed rascality, there is another side to the story which
appeals to earnest men with almost irresistible force. That is
the record of the men who have " struck it rich " in the placers
of this very Klondike — of the men who have gone in poor and
come out in a few short months, or even weeks, rich for life ; of
the men who took stock in the tales of the fabulous wealth wait-
ing in that frozen Yukon valley gravel to be " washed " out, and
who, with wise forethought, prepared themselves for a fierce
battle with the Arctic elements and then braved the hardships
and privations of the wilderness to emerge in time laden with
their golden fruits of victory.

From Alaska Mining Record.

Elsewhere in this volume will be found a more detailed account
of those who " struck it rich" on the Klondike; to show that
there is a bright side to the picture, the following from the
Alaska Mining Record, of Juneau, of June 30th, is sufficient. It
' relates to the arrival of Jack Hayes, the mail carrier from the
Yukon. :

•' Much excitement prevails all through the Yukon district over
the Klondike discoveries, and all kinds of stories of the riches
there are told, many of which Mr. Hayes says are true. It is
true that two tenderfcet, railroad men from Los Angeles, Cal. —
Frank Summers and Charles Clemens — have struck it rich.

64 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

They went in a year ago and located on the Klondike last fall.
Clemens sold his interest for ;^3 5,000 cash, and his partner,
Summers, held on two weeks later and got ;^ 50,000. The
money to pay the men was taken out of the dump which had
been lifted from the shaft on the claim during the winter. These
two men had each panned out ;^2 500 on' their claim while pros-
pecting it. The man that bought Clemens' interest bound the
bargain with a ;^232 nugget which had been taken from the
Klondike. Neither man had had any experience in mining.

**Alec McDonald took one pan from his claim which tipped
the scales to the tune of ;^8oo, and offered a wager of ;^iooo
that he could pick his dirt and in twenty minutes get a pan that
would go over 100 ounces (;^i6oo). No one cared to cover the
wager.

/' Dick Lowe is panning for a living, and is taking out the
modest sum of ^100 a day.

** Two * tenderfeet ' from Chicago, named Wier and Beecher,
leased a piece of ground for sixty days, paid a royalty of
;^ 1 0,000, and divided ;^20,ooo. The miners have only advanced
up the Klondike nine miles, and at that distance there are several
claims that will produce ;^ 1,000,000 apiece.

Assays Enormously Rich.

The latest reports from this cold gold clime consist of speci
mens which were sent to California for assay tests, and they
show enormous returns of gold.

The gold find, however, in this Alaskan Territory is not neWj
although the facts are just beginning to be appreciated by the
public. The unanimous verdict of investigators in this northern
country has always been that gold abounded in great quantities,
but the difficulty has been to get it out and away with any
degree of profit. Mining on a small scale has been practically

SPREAD. OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER 65

impossible. The adventurer without money would have no
chance to strike it rich, even if lie coulJ manage to raise the
sum necessary to take him to the country. The rigors of the
winter preclude any work in that season, and the absence of any
commercial facilities in the new mining districts prevents any
digging that is not connected with some large organized plan.
But for the company or individuals with capital and enterprise
the prospect seems to be of the best. The introduction of
improved machinery — which has already begun — and the en-
largement of the transportation facilities on the long Yukon
River will soon bring these golden riches within easy reach

of the States.

Natural Exaggerations.

The stories of finds, however, must be taken with usual
reservations. There will be natural exaggerations not only of
the richness of the gold but of the character of the hardships
that must be endured. Alaska is no balmy California. There
is no comforting warmth most of the year to sustain the spirits of
the wearied seeker after wealth. The battle for gold there includes
a battle with a hostile nature which has guarded her treasure house
with icy blasts for all these centuries. It is no place for the lag-
gard if all reports be true, but for the man of courage and deter-
mination it seems to be a land of great promise.

One of the evidences of the Klondike craze is freighted with
ill omen to the owners of salmon canneries and of whaling
vessels. Startling rumors have come from the north that
parties of fishermen and sailors are coming across country
from the mouth of the Mackenzie River into the Klondike, and,
should this prove true, many vessels now staunch and trim will
be rotting on the Arctic coast when the snows of next winter
have cleared away.

At Herschel Island, which is situated in the Arctic Ocean

66 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, a large number of
salmon fishers have made their headquarters. During the
summer months, when the Mackenzie River is open, these fisher-
men, in their myriad of small craft, go up the river in quest of
salmon. There are a number of canneries on the Mackenzie.
Over lOO deep-sea vessels are annually needed to bring the sea-
sons pack down from the Arctic. It is believed the fishermen
and crews which went north to bring back the pack have heard
of the wonderful gold strikes and, taking the provisions with
which their vessels were stored have deserted and struck out for
the gold fields.

Owners of whaling vessels which winter at Herschel Island
are as much alarmed as are the canning companies. There are
at least 300 men belonging to the whaling fleet, and it is proba-
ble that they and the fishermen are now delving into the Klondike

soil for gold.

Days of '49 and '97.

In many ways the ** days of '49 " in California and the " days
of '97 " in the Klondike are alike. To the average man the
treasures of the coast State were seemingly as inaccessible as
those of the Yukon and its tributaries. The one lay beyond
2000 miles of trackless desert and snow-clad mountains beset
with savage hordes whose bloody welcome to the gold seeker
narked the trail from the Missouri to the coast with the whitening
bones of "pale-face" prospectors ; the other lies 7000 miles by
water, or 4000 miles by land and water, from civilization, beyond
mountain passes as hazardous to scale as those of the Swiss Alps
and guarded from the greed of man by the icy rigors of the Arctic
climate hardly less effectually than were the riches of California
by the sanguinary red man.

The tales of fabled wealth which set the world crazy to go to
the California mines were not less wonderful than those which

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 67

returning argonauts bring from the upper Yukon country, and
both are confirmed by the yellow nuggets whose mute testimony
to the modern Cathay is unimpeachable. And the excitement in
America is greater than in the wildest days of the South
African or the Australian strikes.

Both in California and in the Klondike, the first mining was in
placers, " poor man's mining," because no expensive machinery
is required — only a pick, spade and pan, with nature's sluiceway
of a nearby stream for water.

And, again, the '* tenderfoot " often struck it rich where the
old miner had trouble to find enough "dust" to buy his daily
food.

It was every man's gold mine. Nature had no favorites.

No wonder people went gold crazy.

Fever Reaches a Climax.

The symptoms of the climax of the first attack of the Klon-
dike fever came relatively soon after the yellow malady became
epidemic. The fever began on July 27th, 1897 ; by August 1 5th
the worst was over, and the tens of thousands of poor men who
wanted to be rich in a hurry, and of rich men who wanted to be
richer, of adventurers who were always ready for anything excit-
ing, and of level-headed business men who had been crazy for
only a few brief days over the marvelous tales of wealth to be
had for the washing, had begun to convalesce and reason that if
the Klondike was really as fabulously rich as it was reported to
be, there would likely be some gold left at the diggings when
spring came, and the perils to health and even life on the long
journey "in" were somewhat diminished by mild weather.

Would-be argonauts who could not get passage to Dyea or
Juneau on the overcrowded steamers began to content themselves
perforce to stay at home ; and weary and disgusted prospectors,

68 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

who had been stranded by the stampede at the mouths of the
mountain passes, began to pour back to winter amid creature
comforts in the homes of civilization, and pack up at leisure for
another venture in the spring. People found time to get cool,
and they took it.

But what a craze it was while it lasted ! Even the days of
'49 were fairly eclipsed by the universality of the gold insanity
of '97. Every city in the Union contributed to the horde of
gold hunters pressing and pushing and scrambling on to the new
Eldorado. Even the little hamlets of the land sent their quota,
and men swarmed by thousands around the wharves of San
Francisco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle, and "put up" their
last cent for a fighting chance in the mad rush for the Yukon
placers, Canada sent its thousands through the States and along
its own routes, and across the Atlantic the fever spread 'till even
the great house of Rothschild was infected and sent a confiden-
tial agent to inspect the wonderful gold fields in its behalf.

London Gets the Craze.

A London correspondent of a New York newspaper wrote in
these words on August ist:

"Were it not so late both in the London and the Yukon sea-
son, the fashionable thing for society young men to-day would
be to make up a party to dare the dangers of the Chilkoot Pass
and explore the Yukon River, even at the risk of gold-laden
aristocrats meeting mythical pirates on their homeward journey.
The gold fever has spread here far wider than the narrow limits
of so-called London society, and there would have been a mad
rush to the diggings from England of all the men and boys who
could beg, borrow, or steal ;^200 had not one or two explorers
sounded a shriek of alarm, and the Emigration Information Ofifice
issued a plain warning to the effect that it would be quite useless

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SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 69

to start hence before next April. Meanwhile such terrible pict-
ures are being painted, in colors laid on so thickly,, and the
deadly perils of White Horse Rapids and Chilkoot are so strongly
emphasized that thoughtful men are not without the keen sus-
picion that the worthy Canadians are doing their best to scare
away intruders and keep their own treasure at home."

New York and Chicago.

New York and Chicago had the fever hard. Men who had
mined and made money, men who had mined and lost money,
men who had always thought they would like to speculate in
mining, and men who had abhorred the very word, were stricken.
Bankers, brokers, business men and nonentities, from James R.
Keene to plain John Smith, went wild. Before July was out,
companies representing an aggregate capitalization of $ 1 8,000,000
had been organized in New York City alone to traffic, or dig, or
grub-stake in the Yukon Basin.

Men who were blind on every other subject saw the wonderful
Alaskan rainbow of promise and rushed off to find the pot of
gold at its Klondike end with the infantile assurance of the tot
in the nursery tale.

Perhaps the date of the placer discovery — coming at the
close of a period of general business depression, had something
to do with the virulence of the fever. Anyway, a fortnight after
the news of the strike steamed into port the country was stark,
staring, raving mad. "Klondike" was the topic at t-he lunch
counters, men talked " outfits " on the street cars and " L " trains,
women found themselves abandoning the fashions to read up on
routes and fares to Dawson City, farmers drove to town in the
middle of a " hay day" to hear the latest from '* the diggings,"
and technical mining phrases became the cant of the day.

Nothing could head off the enthusiasm of the horde of would-be

70 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

miners. They sailed out of the Pacific coast ports, crowded like
animals in and upon vessels known to every sailor as long unsea-
worthy, and periled their lives over the " Boneyard of the Pacific"
or through the devious, rock-studded, fog-enshrouded channels
of the Sitka route ; they trusted to captains who had never been
out of sight of land and to pilots who had never sailed the courses ;
they heard, unmoved, warnings of deadly hardships enroute and
of probable starvation at the mines ; they gave up good positions
and spent small fortunes for transportation, and with scuppers
awash sailed away in death traps to the frozen North.

So reckless did the mad stampeders to the Klondike become
at last that the highest public officials were forced to take notice
of the epidemic folly and try to head it off.

Secretary Bliss' Warning.

Secretary of the Interior Bliss, on August loth found it neces-
sary to issue the following warning, a state paper almost without
a precedent on this continent :

'' To Whom It May Concern : In view of information received
at this department that 3000 persons with 2000 tons of baggage
and freight are now waiting at the entrance to White Pass, in
Alaska, for an opportunity to cross the mountains to the Yukon
River, and that many more are preparing to join them, I deem it
proper to call the attention of all who contemplate making that
trip to the exposure, privation, suffering, and even danger inci-
dent thereto at this advanced period of the season, even if they
should succeed in crossing the mountains. To reach Dawson
City, when over the pass, 700 miles of difficult navigation on the
Yukon River without adequate means of transportation will still
lie before them, and it is doubtful if the journey can be com-
pleted before the river is closed by ice.

" I am moved to draw public attention to these conditions b}'

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 71

the gravity of the possible consequences to people detained in the
mountainous wilderness during five or six months of an arctic
winter, where no relief can reach them, however great the need.

"C. N. Bliss,
" Secretary of the Interior.'^
The Hon. Clifford Sifton, Canadian Minister of the Interior,
had already issued a notice to the public of the Dominion that
the government would not be responsible for getting provisions
into the Yukon during the coming winter tantamount to warning
the gold seekers to stay out till spring.

Mad Rush Goes On.

Yet, in the face of all these official warnings, chronicled and
spread broadcast by the same press and in the same columns in
which the other Klondike news was daily printed, twenty-one
steamers, three sailing vessels and two scows, each laden to the
utmost carrying capacity, had put out from Pacific coast ports
for Alaska before the warnings were a fortnight old.

The North American Transportation and Trading Company
repeatedly issued public warnings of the hazards attending an
attempt to get into the mines during the remainder of the season
of 1897, and finally raised the fare for the last trip of the
steamer Portland to ;^iooo, only guaranteeing to get passengers
to Dawson City by way of St. Michael's by June 15, 1898.
Yet the passenger list was full of names of men who were
willing to spend a winter in the Yukon ice or on the cheerless
shores of Norton Sound, even at that price.

And those who could not muster patience to go by that route,
with Secretary- Bliss' warning ringing in their ears, swarmed at
the wharves where other steamers were preparing to start
with their herded loads of self-deluded gold-seekers, and paid
^500 bonus, where they coule^ find a taker, for the privilege of

72 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

the voyage to overcrowded Dyea or Juneau. They knew the
Canadian mounted police were on guard at the passes over the
mountains, turning back all who had not a year's provisions in
their outfits, but they bid high for the chance to go, just the
same. They knew they stood a chance of having to winter at
Juneau or. Dyea, and eat up their supplies, but they spent their
last cent to get there, just the same. It ceases to be a " play "
rush for gold and became the wild exodus of a rabble in which
men totally unfitted for the rough work and hardships of the
miner's life, and unmindful that failure would be the lot of
hundreds, and that many would find graves among the frozen
placers or along the desert trails, joined with the enthusiasm of
devotees.

Said by P. B. Weare.

" There is barely a chanv^e of any of the gold-seekers getting
across the divide so as to reach the Klondike region this year, to
say nothing about the perils of the long trip beyond, but still the
rush goes on," says P. B. Weare, of the North American Com-
pany, early in August. ** We advise the people now not to
attempt to get to Dawson City this year, but it doesn't seem to
be any use talking. We hear from our representatives in Alaska
and they say it is no use trying to stop the march — in some
cases to certain death."

** They go on the theory that the first there will be first
served," said John Cuhahy in speaking of the race for wealth ;
" but I believe some of the first to go now will be the first
dead."
. Still the rush to the harvest of hardship and death went on.

Then the shock of disillusion came, and it brought some peo-
ple to their senses. Word came back from the North that gold-
seekers were making famine on the bleak Alaska mountains as
fast as they knew how. Winter storms had begun to obliterate

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 73

the trails and bury the passes. Old timers said again the reck-
less argonauts could not get through to the Klondike, and that
Arctic tempests would cut off their return and force them to fight
for life all winter in famine-stricken camps — and this time the
warning was heeded.

The object lesson from Dyea which was shown to the world
on the morning of August loth was too fearful not to be heeded.

Misery at Dyea'.

Hal Hoffman, writing from Juneau uhdei date of August 3d,
said of Dyea and Skagway, the ports at the head of lynn Canal,
these graphic and awful words :

" These are the last salt water ports and the points of debark-
ation for the mountain trails and passes. The number of Indians
and whites and packers and horses is totally inadequate to move
the vast quantities of freight over the mountains, and a blockade
that is daily assuming more formidable proportions has resulted.

*'Tons of supplies are piled high on the beach, and they will
likely remain there for an indefinite length of time. Every
incoming steamer dumps scores of excited gold seekers and tons
of freight on the beach. The confusion is indescribable. Much
of the freight is dumped on a long sand spit at Dyea at low tide,
as there are no wharfs at that place. Before the supplies can be
sorted, claimed, and removed, the tide has risen and ruined or
carried entirely away large quantities of supplies. ^

" By far the largest portion of the supplies must be packed
over the passes by their owners if they are packed at all. Only
about one hundred and fifty Indians, fifty white men, and ten
horses are now packing over the Dyea trail. It is good to be
an Indian now at Dyea. He is making at least ten dollars a
day. He lets the palefaces in search of gold bid against each
other for his services as a packer, and calmly takes up the burden

74 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

of the highest bidder. His squaw and his children also carry
heavy packs up the steep mountain trail.

*' The white man with his ten horses is making ;^ioo per day.
It is estimated that there will be fifty additional white packers
and forty more horses on the trail in a week or ten days, but on
the other hand the rush still keeps up, and the end is not in sight.
The end is too far away to see. It is back in New York, Chicago,
and San Francisco, and has not started yet. Every man who
has set foot in Juneau, Dyea, or Stagua has friends back East
who are coming.

" When the rivers freeze overland travel to Dawson must stop,
except at the greatest peril, till spring smiles again. The Yukon
and Lewis have been known to freeze by the middle of August,
but while this is an exception it is more than a possibility. Unless
an unexpectedly large number of horses and packers arrive soon
many men will camp on the route to the Yukon, and eat the
supplies in idleness through the long winter.

" Many men are starting for the Yukon with inadequate sup-
plies and little money. It takes gold to hunt gold. One can
hardly make a necessary step on the journey here without it
costing ;^io for each step.

Timber Runs Short.

" There is a great scramble for timber at Lake Bennett, with
which to build boats. A little saw mill there is capable of an
output of 800 feet of lumber per day. Ten dollars per hundred
was first asked, and now twenty dollars for lumber. The whip-
saw of gold-seekers is heard throughout the woods. Owing to
the great rush there must be more delay at the lakes.

" Prospectors in the Valley of Yukon have returned here from
Dyea, and will wait till spring before attempting to make the
Klondike. But not so the tenderfoot. He is swarming for the

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

summit in many instances with an outfit unsuitable in kind and
quantity. He is leaving, here every day with pretty red, frail
two-wheeled carts and wheelbarrows, piled high with much super-
fluous baggage which he cannot hope to push over the mountain
trails.

" His vehicle will smash, and his supplies scatter and break
before he is out three hours from Dyea. But you can't make

wm^&m'w^'

NATIVES OF ALASKA BUILDING HOUSES.

him believe it. He is so excited he can't or won't listen to
reason. His one idea is gold and he is going after it with sacks
and carts to bring it back in. As these outfits pass through the
streets from wharf to wharf old prospectors laugh.

*' It looks as though the Canadian customs officials will have
an opportunity to report back to their government that they are
unable to collect customs duties without reinforcements.

76 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

"All the incoming gold hunters are incensed at the action of
the Canadian authorities, at Ottawa, in levying a duty on supplies
they are taking into the mines. The rougher element among
them is intemperate in its language, and has made threats to
ignore the customs officials, peaceably if possible, but forcibly if
necessary.

" The general prospect, as viewed from the border of the land
of gold at this lime, is that the route to the Yukon will be strewn
with bones as well as blasted hopes.

Hurts Alaska Industries.

" The Klondike craze is having a disastrous effect on the
industries of Alaska. The great salmon cannery at Chilkat has
been compelled to close down from lack of fishermen in the
middle of a very fine season. Nearly every white man in the
cannery deserted and started for Dawson City. Manager Mur-
ray tried to get men to take the vacant places, but soon gave up
the attempt. *

" Men are insulted now when asked to work for a cannery.

** The Klondike fever is at a very high pitch in Alaska, as well
as elsewhere. The Chilkat cannery is controlled by the Alaska
Packers' Association, which operates nearly all the canneries on
the coast. Employes are leaving the canneries for the Klondike.
The probability is that work at nearly all of them will be aband-
oned soon, owing principally to a lack of fishermen.

"At Douglas City, across the channel, about fifty men have
given notice to quit work next pay day. They are employed in
the big Treadwell Gold Mine and Mills. Others are leaving
without notice and heading for Klondike. Every shift one or
more man are missed. It is feared that so many desert that the
mines and mills cannot be worked.

" The fever has also seized the men in the mines and stamp

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SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 77

mills at Berner Bay. A large number have thrown up their jobs
there and started for the Klondike."

Could anything better express the utter folly of some of the
gold-seekers, who were probably types of a large class, than
this, clipped from a letter written from Dyea ?

" Such is the innocence of some of the * tenderfoot ' prospec-
tors that they have taken bicycles to Dyea. They have found
the park commissioners neglected to boulevard the trail to Daw-
son and the bicycles being, even in an extremity, unfit for food,
are now very cheap."

One of the possible and much-feared episodes in the Klon-
dike sensation may yet add a bloody page to the history of
North Pacific navigation, and cause to be re-enacted in American
waters some of the fierce buccaneering scenes of the Straits Settle-
ments on the Spanish Main.

Chinese Pirate Scare.

Word was received early in August by the officials of the
North American Transportation and Trading Company that a
band of Chinese pirates had been organized for the express pur-
pose of intercepting and looting the steamer Portland on its last
trip down from St. Michael's in October, 1897. It was known
that a large number of Klondike miners intended to come out in
the Portland, bringing their dust with them, and the last com-
pany shipment of gold would also be brought down on the same
boat. Altogether, it had been reported, about $2,000,000 of
yellow treasure would be aboard, and the company officials were
informed a pirate crew recruited from the Highbinders in the
Chinese slums of San Francisco, aided by a few renegade white
men, would lie in wait to loot and destroy the treasure ship and
murder its crew and passengers at some point between St.
Michael's and Dutch Harbor. •

78 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

P. B. Weare, of the company, communicated his fears to
Secretary of the Treasury Gage, and the latter at once ordered
Commander Hooper, of the Revenue Service, to send a cutter to
convoy the treasure ship safely into the Pacific.

The Portland is a staunch vessel, well armed and carries a
good crew, and when aided by the fighting tars of the Bear or
Rush, is expected to not only come through safely but to give the
Mongolian marauders a hot reception if they venture out.

Craze Is Epidemic.

Another effect of the Klondike fever was to cause a similar
malady of strictly local extent to break out in a dozen places
which had not had a case of genuine gold fever in years.

California promptly '* saw " the Klondike and " went it one
better" with some remarkable strikes in the Trinity County
placers. The largest nugget reported was said to be worth
;^42,ooo, and weight 2400 ounces. Little Rock, Arkansas,
went wild over the reputed rediscovery of some old Spanish
mines in the neighborhood. Nevada got a latter-day Washoe
shock in an old mine in Elko County. The Kootenai and Cari-
boo districts suddenly discovered that they contained mineral
enough to warrant a population of 100,000 in a few years, and
hearalded the fact to the world. Colorado got up a boom over
some sylvanite quartz at Silver Cliff, an old camp. Rat Port-
age, Ontario, suffered a depopulating exodus over some reported
rich finds in the Rainy Lake and Seine River country. Dead-
wood put in a claim to notice by announcing a new lead in
Ragged Top, which assayed ;^I048 a ton in gold. Altoona,
Pennsylvania, temporarily forgot the coal rumpus while it dis-
covered gold ore going ^^625 a ton on Tussey Mountains.
Elizabethtown, Kentucky, got up a little excitement over a gilt
bottomed farm near Summit. .Columbia, Missouri, ran across

SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER. 79

a lot of gold in the banks of Dry Creek. Ashland and Mari-
nette, Wisconsin, came in neck and neck with stories of gold
discoveries. Marquette, Michigan, found it was roosting on top
of a gold lead forty feet wide and hadn't suspected it before.
Peru came to the front with a revival of the famous mines of the
Incas. Mexico owned up to having gold in the Yaqui country.
Russia declared there were fabulously rich new mines in
Okhotsk, just across from Alaska. And China came in late in
the game and announced the biggest find of all.

It mattered not that the Missouri gold was pronounced pyrites
and some of the other ** discoveries " mere stock jobbing
schemes— it showed how the fever spread.

About Bogus Stock Companies.

A word to the people who did not catch the stampede craze
hard enough to get them out of the country, but who are left
behind with the " Alaska Mining and Klondike Development
Stock Companies : "

The man who goes in person to the Klondike takes great risks,
but his success or failure will depend largely on himself in the
long run. At any rate, he knows what he is staking on the
issue. But the man who would stay at home and still be a
Klondiker has to reckon not only with nature, but with rascals.

There will be stock companies innumerable, organized ostensi-
bly to exploit the Northwest. Some will do it. They will be
directed by men who will set honestly about the business of trade
and transportation and mining, who will handle honestly the
funds intrusted to them, and who, by enterprise and square
dealing, will make dividends for the stockholders.

There will be other companies organized to exploit the pockets
of the people at home. They will not move a boat, they will
not grub-stake a miner, they will not sell a shovel, ^ pick, or a

80 SPREAD OF THE KLONDIKE FEVER.

pan. Their directors will get money from the unsuspecting and
use it for their own purposes. If the boom holds out and grows
to sufficient size they will play the part of the adventurers who
turned the city of Panama into a modern Babylon with the money
contributed by the people of France.

In short, sending capital into the Klondike will be even more
precarious than going yourself, for the risks of nature will be
added to the risk of man's rascality.

Yet capital is needed in the Klondike, and those who send it
there under the proper sort of management will make legitimate
profits, and possibly big ones.

CHAPTER III.
"Strike it Rich" on Klondike.

Gold-seekers who ** Made their Pile "in the Placers — Tales Brought Back
by Returning Argonauts — Fabulous Stakes made by Novices — The
"Tenderfoot" Has His Day— Clarence J. Berry, the " Barney Barnato "
of the Diggings — His Wonderful Streak oC Luck — Gives the Credit to
His Wife — Captain McGregor's Wonderful Panning Results — Fortune
Favors an Indiana Boy — Some of the Dark Sides, by People who Saw
Them — Miners Go Insane — Death on the Glacier — Hard Work and Lack
of Supplies — Advice of a California Pioneer.

THAT men, even a few, have "struck it rich" and "made
their pile " on the Klondike, or anywhere else on the

Upper Yukon, has put the whole question of gold pros-
pects in Alaska beyond cavil or doubt with the masses, for the
coming close season at least. Much good advice will be given
— and wasted — before the ice moves in 1 898 in the upper chan-
nels in the Alaskan rivers, but not a word of it, nor all of it
together will be potent to overcome the attraction there is in the
list of those who have washed fortunes out of the frozen Klon-
dike gravel.

That tons and more of new gold, a milhon and three-quarters
of dust and nuggets, that the Portland brought in July, and the
men who had "struck it" who came with her, and the stories
they told of other lucky ones who were still washing away at
the auriferous soil — these things settled it. Alaska is Eldorado
and the cry is " Klondike or Bust."

It seemed strange as the passengers landed from the Portland
to (^aze upon a small satchel tightly grasped in a brown hand,
and realize that it contained probably over ;^ 10,000, the reward
of untold hardship. The blanket securely strapped and the
leather gripsack seemed favorite packages for the yellow metal.

6 81

82 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

This time of '97, unlike all other times, Fortune played no
favorites. 1897 on the Klondike was the '* tenderfoot's " year
for gold. The inexperienced men have been the lucky ones,
individuals in several instances taking out approximately ;^I50,-
000 in two months and a half, while the old miners, after
spending years and suffering hardships and privations innumer-
able in the far Northwest, had only a few thousands to show for
all their pains and perils.

Clarence Berry's Strike.

Clarence J. Berry, of Fresno, California, was one of the luckiest
of the '* tenderfeet ; " in fact, his strike was a proverb in the
entire region, and he is known among the Yukoners as " the
luckiest man on the Klondike," and the *' Barney Barnato of the
Klondike," though he is unlike the South African Croesus in all
but luck. A few years ago. Berry said, he did not have enough
to pay house rent, and did not dare ask Ethel. Bush, of Fresno,
to share his poverty. But he brought back from the Klondike,
on the Portland, $ 1 30,000 in gold nuggets, and the prettiest wife
in the territory and a helpmeet, too, for Mrs. Ethel Berry, nee
Bush, didn't begin the honeymoon under the midnight sun by
asking her husband for pin-money. Not she. She just took a
pan and washed out ;^ 10,000 or so on her own account.

Clarence Berry was described by Mrs. Eli Gage, who was a
passenger with him and his wife on the Portland, as being ** the
most modest millionaire," she ever saw. But he was willing to
talk Klondike after he had turned his dust and nuggets over to
Wells, Fargo & Co., at Seattle, on July 17th.

" Yes, I am a rich man," said he, " but I don't realize it. My
wife and little ones will, though. I took out my gold last win-
ter in box lengths twelve by fifteen, and in one length I found
the sum of ^10,000. The second largest nugget ever found i»

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 83

Alaska was taken out of my claim. It weighed thirteen ounces
and is worth ;^230. Why, I have known men to takeout ;^iooo
from a drift claim, and some have taken out several thousand.
This gold was found in pockets, and it is not an ordinary thing
to make such marvelous finds.

** Yes, there is plenty more of gold there. I expect to take
many more thousands from my claim ; others on this boat expect
to do the same. Those who have good claims will undoubtedly
be millionaires in a few years. The gold will not give out for a
long time. There is room for more miners in Alaska, but they
must be strong men, must have money, and should know about
mining. The hardships are many. Some will fail to make for-
tunes, where a few are successful. A man may have to prospect
for many years before he finds a good claim. That means th at
he needs money and strength to help him along ; but if he sticks
to it he will come out all right."

Captain McGregor's Big Pans.

Captain John G. McGregor, of Minneapolis, Minn., a placer
miner for thirty years, and one of the pioneers at Confederate
Gulch, Montana, has been in the Klondike a year. In August
he wrote home that his men were washing gravel that occasion-
ally goes ;^3000 to the pan, and that ;^iooo is common. He
has several miners working for him, and expects to bring out as
his own profits next June not less than ;^i,200,QCXD.

Frank Phiscator, of Gallen, Indiana, came in on the Portland
with |» 50,000, which he washed out in forty days. He left
Indiana a year before for the Pacific Slope to begin life anew,
having failed in the fruit business. He had never heard of the
Alaska gold mines until he reached Seattle, which place he
reached " broke." He was grub-staked by a friend who went
through from Michigan with him, and together they started for

84 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

the new Eldorado. For days after they left Circle City they
were lost in a blinding storm, and for three days found refuge in
a hole in the hardened snow. They reached the Klondike in the
dead of winter, and when the weather moderated they were pre-
pared for business. In forty days they sluiced and washed out
;^ 1 2 5,000 of gold, of which Frank received as his share ;^ 50,000.

William Stalley and C. Worden were Phiscator's companions,
and they divided ;^ 7 5,000 between them.

William Sloane, a merchant of Nanaimo, B. C, went North
for pleasure one year ago. He had no money. A friend in-
duced him to go to Klondike. He came back with ;^ 5 2,000,
the amount he received for his claim. He says he will not re-
turn, but advises others who want gold to go.

Dougal M'Arthur's Romance.

Young Dougal M'Arthur came down from Klondike with
;^2 5,000 in dust and a story no one could doubt. He said :

'' I left the good old country when a mere boy, determined, if
possible, to carve out a fortune for myself Coming to America
I drifted from place to place with varying success and finally, six
years ago, determined to try my luck in Alaska. It was hard
working at first, but I soon got used to it, and I determined to
stay there until I struck something that would pay me for my
trouble.

" At Forty-mile camp I made some money and then I drifted
over to Circle City. There I did not do so well, but I kept peg-
ging away, believing like Micawber, that something would turn
up after a bit. Well, last fall came the news of a tremendously
rich strike on the Klondike. We — that is, my partner, Neal
McArthur and myself — pulled up stakes and started for the new
discovery. Neal went ahead and was fortunate in locating a
good claim. My part of the work consisted in hauling our pro-

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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

visions and camping outfit over the snow and ice to the new
location. I was compelled to make two trips, and it was the
hardest work I ever did in my life.

" I reached Dawson City finally just two days before Christ-
mas. Neal had prospected the claim and found it rich beyond
our fondest anticipations. Before we could begin work there

SCENE NEAR DAWSON CITY.

was an offer to buy it and we sold out for ;^ 50,000. It was a
lucky turn of the wheel of fortune for us. Without practically
a stroke we cleaned up ;g 2 5,000 apiece.

" Now we are going home to see our people. My own folks
have not heard from me in a long time, and maybe they think I
am dead. It will be a joyful home-coming for all."

86 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

Among the first people to come back to civilization were Mr.
and Mrs. Lipton, who, though they had been at the diggings
only since April, 1896, returned with ;^6o,ooo. Most of the
party were " tenderfeet," and had spent but ont season at the
mines, yet some of them had taken out from ;g 10,000 to;g25,ooo
in a few weeks. In the nine miles advance up the Klondike, it
is said, there are several mines that will yield over ;^ 1,000,000,
one piece of ground on the Eldorado, forty-five feet wide, having
yielded ;^90,ooo. The Berry claim has produced ;^ 145,000 in a
few months, and there is a pile of gravel on the dump, ready to
be washed as soon as sufficient water can be obtained, which
contains as much more.

Sample " Piles " on the Portland.

Among the passengers on the Portland, July 17th, Clarence
Berry, Frank Phiscator, and Frank A. Kellar, of Los Angeles,
each had from ;^ 3 5,000 to ;^ 100,000. Henry Anderson and Jack
Morden, of Chicago ; William Stanley, of Seattle ; and R. Mc-
Nulty and N. E. Pickett, each had at least ;^20,ooo. M. Mercer,
J. J. Hillerman, and J. Moran, had each from ;^ 12,000 to ;^ 15.000.
The average pile of dust on board the Portland was probably
$ 1 2,000, and these people, the captain said, are only a handful.

Michael Hickey, of Great Barrington, Mass., brought down
;^6o,ooo, which he had taken from Klondike placers in the last
eighteen months. Hickey is a widower. He left Great Barring-
ton for Alaska in the spring of 1896. In his letters home he
has not complained about the hardships he has met. He spent
the winter of 1896-97 in the gold regions.

William Stanley, of Seattle, "struck it" rich. He came down
with ;^90,ooo. His two sons are in the Klondike, looking after
their claims, out of which they hope to make at least ;^300,000.

Henry Anderson, a native of Sweden, had no money when

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 87

he left Seattle two. years ago. Now he has ^^45,000 and states
that he received it for a half interest in his claim.

Pack Home, a pugilist who use to work for variety theatres
on Puget Sound for ten dollars per week, displayed ^6000, the
result of a year's work.

T. J. Kelly and son, of Tacoma, went north in the fall of

1896. The father brought back ;^ 10,000 and the son is holding

the claim.

Gold Breaks the Gripsack.

John Wilkinson, a passenger on the Portland, had his gold in
a leather gripsack, and in carrying it out of the social hall of the
steamer, in spite of the fact that he had three straps around the
bag, the main handle piece broke, and he had to secure a broader
strap before he could carry his treasure ashore.

Henry Anderson, another passenger, refused to talk, hurrying
aft to get away, but it was said by his companions that he
brought down ^^65,000, and that he had a claim like a river
of gold. He sold out a half interest for ^45,000 cash. In
six hours' shoveling he secured 1025 ounces from his claim.

Thomas Moran, of Montreal, brought out as the proceeds
of five years' work ;^ 20,000, and still has interests in several
claims. Moran will go back. Victor Lord, an old Olympia
logging man, brought out ;^ 10,000 after four years on various
parts of the Yukon. He owns a half interest in two claims, and
will return in the spring. M. N. Murcier, of Shelton, Mason &
Co., came out with about ;^ 160,000.

Among the passengers via the Portland were Fred. Price,
August Galbraith, L. B. Rhoads, Thomas Cook and Alexander
Orr. Each one had from ;^ 5000 to ;^ 12,000. Joseph Ladue,
the owner of the townsite of Dawson City, was also aboard.
Land is selling there, he reported, at ;^5000 a lot.

Fred. Price, who brought out a snug fortune, said : " I was

88 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

located on the Bonanza with Harry McCullough, my partner. I
brought down ;$5000 in gold dust and made ;^20,ooo, which is
invested in more ground » There were good stakes on the boat
coming down — from ;^5000 to ;^40,ooo among the boys. I
refused ;^ 2 5,000 for my interest before I left. My partner
remains, and I shall return in the spring after seeing my family
in Seattle. I was in the mines for two years. One can't realize
the wealth of that creek. There are four miles of claims on the
Eldorado, and the poorest is worth ;^ 50,000. The Bonanza
claims run for ten miles, and range from ;^5000 to ;^90,ooo."

August Galbraith said : " The development of Alaska has
only just begun. If I were not an old man, I would have
remained where I was. There is no doubt in my mind that all
of the country for hundreds of miles around Dawson is rich in
gold. It is the best place that I know of for a poor man to go.
If a man has ;^500 when he starts, well and good, for it may be
useful if he should not be fortunate the first season."

Rock Lined With Gold.

L. B. Rhoads said: "I am located on Claim 21, above the
discovery on Bonanza Creek. I did exceedingly well up there,
I was among the fortunate ones, as I cleared about ;^40,ooo, bui
brought only ;^5000 with me. I was the first man to get to
bedrock gravel and to discover that it was lined with gold dust
and nuggets. The rock was seamed and cut in V-shaped
streaks, caused, it is supposed, by glacial action.

" In those seams I found a clay which was exceedingly rich.
There was a stratum of pay gravel four feet thick upon the rock,
which was lined with gold, particularly in these channels or
streaks. The rock was about sixteen feet from the surface."

Alexander Orr, who brought out ;^ 12,000 in dust, said: '' In
winter the weather is extremely cold at Dawson, and it is neces-

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 89

sary that one be warmly clad. The thermometer often goes
sixty or seventy degrees below zero. Ordinary woolen clothes
would afford little protection. Furs are used exclusively for
clothing. Dawson is not like most of the large mining camps.
It is not a " tough " town. Murders are almost unknown. A
great deal of gambling is done in the town, but serious quarrels
are an exception. Stud poker is the usual game. They play
$1 ante and oftentimes ;^200 or ;^500 on the third card."

Thomas Cook expressed himself as follows : " It's a good
country, but if there is a rush, there is going to be a great deal
of suffering. Over 2000 men are there at present, and 2000
more will be in before the snow falls. I advise people to take
provisions enough for eight months at least. If they have that,
it is all right. The country is not exaggerated at all. The
mines at Dawson are more extensive and beyond anything I
ever saw."

William Sloan, of Nanaimo, B. C, sold his claim for ;^ 5 2,000
/ and came home to stay. A man named Wilkenson, of the same
place, had ;^40,ooo.

The smallest sack of gold among the Yukoners aboard the
Portland on July 17th was ;^3000. It belonged to C. A.
Branan, of Seattle, a youth of eigliteen years.

Over $100,000 for a Boy.

The richest strike was made by a twenty-one-year-old boy
named George Hornblower, of Indianapolis. In the heart of a
barren waste known as Boulder Field he found a nugget for
which the transportation company gave him ;^5700. He located
his claim at the find and in four months had taken out over
;^ 1 00,000.

Henry Lamprecht wrote from the Klondike to say that there
are miles of rich pay dirt all through the region. Men have

90 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

taken a tub of water into their cabin and with a pan "panned
out " ^2000 in less than a day. This is said to be equal to
about ;^40,ooo a day in the summer with sluice boxes. They
get from ;^io to ;^ioo a pan average and a choice or picked pan
as high as ;^250, and it takes about thirty minutes to wash a pan
of dirt.

Three hundred thousand dollars' worth of gold from the
Klondike found its way to Minnesota in the possession of Peter
Olafson and Charles Erickson, two Scandinavians, who returned
to Two Harbors after putting in five years in Alaska.

A little over five years ago the two men, aged twenty-seven
and thirty years, respectively, were employed in the blacksmith
shops of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad at Two Harbors.
They heard of the gold fields in Alaska and decided to go there
and seek a fortune. For three years they labored in vain, but
two years ago they discovered a rich placer bed on the Stewart
River, and later located claims on the Klondike. In the two
years they say they cleaned up ;g 150,000 each.

A new mint record for one day's receipts at the San Francisco
Mint was made August 3d, when ;^3, 775,000 in gold was
deposited at the branch mint for coinage. This represented the
accumulation of six weeks. Three-quarters of a million of this
was owned by the Alaska Commercial Company and was mainly
from the Klondike. A large portion of the balance was also
from the rich northern placers, and was deposited by various
miners and smelting companies to whom it had been sold. This
is said to be the largest sum deposited at a mint in a single day.

Allan McLeod's Big Stake.

Allan McLeod, of Perth, Scotland, came back with ;^92,500.
His hands and feet were tied up in bandages, and his clothing
was ragged and dirty as a result of a long sojourn in Alaska.

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 91

He looked anything but prosperous, yet in his pocket reposed a
draft for ^^92,500, and an attendant took care of a deer hide sack
heavy with gold nuggets.

Mr. McLeod is a baker by trade, a restaurant cook and pro-
prietor by circumstance, a gold miner by accident and a rich
man by luck. Inflammatory rheumatism, contracted in the gold
fields, made a temporary cripple of him and rendered his journey
painful, yet he had a light heart as he pictured the surprise he
would give his old friends in Scotland when he landed with his

treasure.

Sold Out For $5,000.

"I went to Alaska early last summer," said Mr. McLeod,
" with a crowd of miners who came up the Sound from San
Francisco. I was out of money and work, or I doubt whether
I would have accepted the offer they made me to go along as
cook. We reached Cook's Inlet June 20th, and things looked so
discouraging we went back to Juneau. There we bought sup-
plies and started for Dawson City, 750 miles away. We camped
there, and I did the cooking for the boys. They did very well,
but the gold fever took them farther east, and I remained to cook
for another gang of miners. I made good wages, and finally
had enough to start a restaurant. In two weeks I sold the place
for ;^5000, and went placer mining with a half-breed for a
partner.

" We had good luck from the start, and I would have remained
but for a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. It would
have killed me but for the nursing of my partner. He carried
me most of the way to Juneau, where I got passage on a fishing
schooner to 'Frisco. I am satisfied with what I've got in money,
and hope to get rid of my rheumatism before long. Great for-
tunes are being found by many men, and no one knows the ex-
tent of the gold fields that are constantly developing."

92 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

A San Francisco paper, under date of July 23d, prints the fol-
lowing :

" Five French Canadians who were successful on the Klon-
dike, and are now bound for Montreal, are at the Commercial
Hotel in this city. They came from Seattle, having reached that
city by the steamer Portland. They could not get the prices for
their nuggets that they wanted there, nor will they accept the bid
made by the Selby smelting works in this city. As the San
Francisco mint is closed pending the change of administration,
these five miners will carry their bullion to Philadelphia and ex-
change it there for coin of the United States."

J. O. Hestwood Sees Millions.

J. O. Hestwood, of Seattle, is a typical returned Argonaut.
He is a small man, weighing not over 140 pounds, and has light
blue eyes, clear skin and a firm square jaw. He has been a
preacher, teacher and lecturer, having delivered lectures all over
the coast of Alaska to pay his way up there. He spent three
years in the territory before his great opportunity came. He
was at Glacier Creek when the news was brought down of the
immense strike in Bonanza Creek. Here is his story in his own
words, which give an admirable idea of the way the mines are
worked :

" With hundreds I rushed to the new fields. After a few days
I became disgusted and started to leave the country. I had
gone only a short distance down the river when my boat got
stuck in the ice and I was forced to foot it back to Dawson
City.

"Well, it was Providence that did that. I purchased claim
No. 60, below Discovery claim, and it proved one of the richest
pieces of ground in the district. My claim will average 1 6 or 17
dollars to the pan, and in addition to what I have already taken

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STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

out, there is at least ;^2 50,000 in sight. Last season I worked
thirty men, and I intend to employ more next year."

B. W. Shaw, a former insurance man of Seattle, writing from
Klondike, says he does not expect to be believed when he says
he counted five five- gallon oil cans full of gold dust in one
cabin, the result of a
winter's work by two
men. He adds that 100
ounces have been taken
out of a single pan.

William Kulju sold
his claim for ;^ 2 5,000,
brought down 1000
ounces of dust and
started home for Fin-
land.

Fred. Lendeseen went
to Alaska two years ago,
and in July brought
down ;^ 1 3,000 in dust,
besides having an in-
terest in a claim.

Greg Stewart sold his
share in a claim for
^45,000.

Thomas Flack brought along ;^6ooo in dust - for expenses,
and said he had refused ;^ 50,000 for his share of a claim, out
of which his partners realized, respectively, ^50,000 and ;^5 5,000.

J. B. Hollingshead had |)2 5,000 in dust to show for two years'
work.

M. S. Norcross said : " I was sick and couldn't work, so I
cooked for Mr. McNamee. Still I had a claim on the Bonanza,

ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.

94 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

but didn't know what was in it because I couldn't work it. 1
sold out last spring for ;^ 10,000, and was satisfied to get a chance
to return to my home in Los Angeles."

John Marks reported thus about his ''pile:'* "I brought
;? 1 1,500 in gold dust with me, but I had to work for every bit
of it. There is plenty of gold in Alaska — more, I believe, than
the most sanguine imagine — but it cannot be obtained without
great effort and endurance."

This is Talbot Fox's story : '' I and my partner went into the
district in 1895 and secured two claims. We sold one for
;^45,ooo. I brought 300 ounces, which netted ^5000. Every-
body is at Dawson for the present. The district is apt to be
overrun. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there this fall, for
people are liable to go hungry before spring. About 800 went
over the summit from Juneau, 600 miles, so there may not
be food enough for all."

Riches on the American Side.

F. G. H. Bowker, a Yukoner of six months' standing, brought
out ;^40,ooo and the information that the placers were richer on
the American than on the Canadian side of the boundary line.

Wonderful tales are told of the great richness of the Klondike
placers. More than one man reports having obtained ;^iooo
from a single pan washing, while reports of yields of ;^500 and
;^6oo to the pan are numerous. An ordinary pan of gravel will
weigh twenty-five pounds and a yield of ;^iooo worth of gold
means sixty-two ounces, or nearly one-sixth of the entire bulk
in precious metal. The average is said to be fifty dollars to the
pan, and this is phenomenal when it is taken into consideration
that the California pan washer was well pleased with a uniform
product of three dollars to a washing, and could rnaK money
with a yield running as low as fifty cents. With thi^ kind of

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 95

field to work in, it is small wonder that claim-holders gladly pay-
fifteen dollars a day for common labor, and are unable to get
anything like a fair supply at that. It is only men who are
"broke" who are willing to work for wages.

Fever Strikes the Navy.

Lieutenant John Bryan, of Lexington, who is on the revenue
cutter Rush, stationed at Unalaska, Alaska, watching the seal
fisheries, writes under date of July 9th to relatives in Kentucky
^that the Alaska gold fields are not overestimated. He says the
placer mining is in the old bed of the Yukon River. He says :

" You dig no deeper than fifteen feet into the rivei bed when
you strike a strata of pure gold nuggets among the stones.
There are eighty claims already taken, each 5,000 feet long and
the width of the river bed.

" The great obstacle in reaching the gold fields is the uncom-
fortable mode of travel. Steamers go no further than the mouth
of the Yukon, and you have to walk the 1000 miles or pay the
extravagant fare asked by the company, which runs a small boat
up the river and finally lands you near the gold fields.

" All who are fortunate enough to reach the country are cer-
tain to find employment, even if they do not strike a claim,
which at present they could avoid only by not looking for it.
The poorest miners will pay fifteen dollars a day for help op
their claims, but it will cost five dollars per day to live unless
you take your provisions with you."

The lieutenant says he has the gold fever badly, and if it wer^
not for the fact that he is in the government service he would go
to the new Eldorado.

The Toronto Globe says editorially of the Klondike situation 1

'* While there is probably much exaggeration in the stories
that are brought back from the Yukon, it is only necessary to

96 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

read the calia official reports of Mr. Ogilvie, the well-known
officer of the Geological Survey, to realize that it is equally
possible that there is no exaggeration in them at all. Mr. Ogil-
vie's notes read like passages from Monte Cristo. Writing on
December 9, 1896, he said : * Bonanza Creek and tributaries are
increasing in richness and extent until now it is certain that .mil-
lions will be taken out of the district in the next few years. On
some of the claims prospected' the pay dirt is of great extent
and very rich. One man told me yesterday that he had washed
out a single pan of dirt on one of the claims on Bonanza and
found fourteen dollars and twenty-five cents. Of course that
may be an exceptionally rich pan, but five to seven dollars per
pan is the average on that claim it is reported, with five feet of
pay dirt and the width yet undetermined ; but it is known to be
thirty feet even at that ; figure the result at nine to ten pans to
the cubic foot, and 500 feet long — nearly ;^4,ooo,ooo at five
dollars per pan^ One-fourth of this would be enormous.
Another claim has been prospected to such an extent that it is
known there is about five feet pay dirt averaging two dollars per
pan, and width not less than thirty feet. Enough prospecting
has been done to show that there are at least fifteen miles of this
extraordinary richness, and the indications are that we will have
three or four tirnes that extent, if not all equal to the above, at
least very rich.' "

Captain McGregor's Story.

Captain John G. McGregor, of Minnesota, went into Alaska
last March, and the last of letters to his relatives came from the
land of gold June 14th. This was before the rush of the fortune
hunters had begun or before, in fact, much was known of the
Dawson City diggings. Notwithstanding that fact, the letter
contains estimates of wealth which distance far and away any of

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 97

the hitherto published accounts of the yield from Alaska's glit-
tering sands.

** We have washed ;^3000 to a single pan," says the captain,
in one of his letters. This is almost incredible. ' It would be
quite so in fact were it not for his well-known reputation. He
has been a mining expert for thirty years, and much of that time
has been engaged in the very work he is now doing — ^placer
mining.

Up to date the world's record has been ;^iooo a pan. This
was in Montana at Montana Bar. There was a group of prop-
erties in what was known as the Confederate Gulch, and every
lOO feet for half a mile along the shore produced ;^iooo a pan
for every washing. The year was 1868. Captain McGregor
owned those properties then, and does now, so that in the present
instance his word must command a good deal of respect on that

ground alone.

Results of Prospects.

His attention was directed to the Yukon valley basin some
time ago, and a year ago last March he sent two mt.'n who had
been in his pay for a number of years out to prospect. He
heard from them from time to time, but the message he waited
for did not come until last March. Then the word he received
caused him to form a party immediately. He had had his prep-
arations all planned, and within a very short time was breasting
the mountain snows in the Chilkoot pass. He could not wait for
the warm season, and made the trip successfully, though at the
expense of considerable suffering by members of his expedition.
On his arrival he immediately assumed charge at the claims
which had been located and staked out by his men, with the
result that he uncovered the tremendously rich find he reports.

Captain McGregor began his prospecting immediately after the
war. He came into control of the Confederate Gulch properties

S8 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

shortly after his start, and most of the gold taken out was
washed under his direct management. The gulch was then 500
miles from the borders of civilization, and each installment of
the yellow stuff had to be escorted down to the railroad by
armed bodies of 200 or 300 men. The metal was packed in
beer kegs and so carried without trouble.

The captain is a Scotchman and has all the caution and con-
servatism characteristic of the nationality. Coming from such a
source, the character of his statement; is far superior to the
report which might be brought from some prospector or from
entirely irresponsible parties. Captain McGregor has had men
in his employ and prospecting various regions since the seventies.
He is now looking for quartz, and will undoubtedly, later on,
place himself at the head of some very important deep-earth
operations.

Placer mining will pay when not more than twenty-five cents
is realized on a pan. The operation is very generally familiar,
wen to those who know nothing about mining. The earth
washed in the Confederate Gulch was so dazzlingly heavy with
gold that it seemed as if it were nearly pure, so it can be
imagined what description the wash from the Klondike soil must
take on.

How Berry Got His Stake.

Clarence Berry, the " Barney Barnato " of the Klondike, tells
a thrilling story of his experience.

Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California. He
did not have any money. There was no particular prospect that
he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding for a
bare living. There was no opportunity at home of getting
ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed of
the day when he would make a strike and get his million. This
was three years ago. There had then come down from the

100 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men
brave enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and
cold. He had nothing to lose and all to gain. He concluded
to face the danger. His capital was forty dollars. He proposed
to risk it all — not very much to him now, but a mighty sight
three years ago. It took all but five dollars to get him to
Juneau. He had two bi^ arms, the physique of a giant and
the courage of an explorer. Presenting all these as his only
collaterals, he managed to squeeze a loan of sixty dollars from a
man who was afraid to go with him, but was willing to risk a
little in return for a promise to pay back the advance at a fabu-
lous rate of interest.

Juneau was alive with men three years ago who had heard
from the Indians the yarns of gold without limit. The Indians
brought samples of the rock and sand and did well in trading
them. A party of forty men banded *to go back with the
Indians. Berry was one of the forty. Each had an outfit — a
year's mess of frozen meat and furs. It was early spring when
the first batch of prospectors started out over the mountains,
and the snow was as deep as the cuts in the sides of the hills,
the natives packed the stuff to the top of Chilkoot pass. It
was life and death every day. The men were left one by one
along the cliffs.

Disaster to the Outfit.

The timid turned back. The whole outfit of supplies went
down in Lake Bennett. The forty men had dwindled to three
— Berry and two others. The others chose to make the return
trip for more food. Berry wanted gold. He borrowed a chunk
of bacon and pushed on. He reached Forty Mile Creek within
a month. There was not a cent in his pocket. The single
chance for him was work with those more prosperous. His pay
was ^loo a month. It was not enough, and, looking for better

<
<

^'
o

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

101

pay, he drifted from one end of the gulch to the other, always
keeping his shrewed eye open for a chance to fix a claim of his
own. There was a slump in the prospects of the district and
he concluded to go back to the world.

The slump was not the only
reason. There was a young
woman back in Fresno who
had promised to be his wife.
Berry came from the hidden
world without injury and Mis
Ethel D. Bush kept her
pledge. They were married.

Berry told his bride about
the possibilities of Alaska. She
was a girl of the mountains.
She said she had not married
him to be a drawback, but a
companion. If he intended
or wanted to go back to the
Eldorado, she proposed to go
with him. She reasoned that
he would do better to have
her at his side. His pictures
of the dangers and hardships had
was her duty to face as much

MINER

HARD LUCK.

no effect upon her. It
as he was willing to face.
They both decided it was worth the try — success at a bound
rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew
exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced
him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than
any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a bridal
tour which would certainly be new and far from the beaten tracks
of sighing lovers.

102 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau in May, 1896. They had
little capital but lots of determination. They took the boat to
Dyea, and the rest of the journey was made with dogs. They
slept on a bed of boughs under a tent. They reached Forty-
Mile Creek a year ago in June, three months after they were
married. They called it their wedding trip.

Off for the Discovery.

Klondike was still a good way off, and it was thought at first
that the claims closer at hand would pay. One day a miner
came tearing into the settlement with most wonderful tales of the
region further on. His descriptions were like fairy tales from
"Arabian Nights " — accounts fitting accurately the scenes in
spectacular plays, where the nymph or queen of fairy land bids
her slaves to pick up chunks of gold as big as the crown of a
hat. Berry told the tale to his wife. She said she would stay
at the post while he went to the front. There was no rest that
night in the camp. Men were rushing out pellmell, bent on
nothing but getting first into the valley of the Klondike and
establishing claims. Mrs. Berry worked with her husband with
might and main, and before daylight he was on the road over
the pass. There were fifty long miles between him and fortune,
and he worked without sleep or rest to beat the great field
which started with him. He made the track in two days. He
was among the first in. He staked Claim 40, above the Dis-
covery; which means that his property was the fortieth one
above the first Aladdin. It was agreed that each claim should
have 500 feet on the river — the Bonanza. This was the begin-
ning of Berry's fortune. He then began to trade for interests in
other sites. He secured a share in three of the best on Eldorado
Creek. There is no one living who can tell how much this
property is worth. It has only been worked in the crudest way.

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 103

yet five months netted him enough to make him a rich man the
rest of his life. There are untold and inestimable millions where
the small sum from the top was taken.

Berry gives all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It
was possible for her to have kept him at home, after the first
trip. She told him to return — and she returned with him. It
was an exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage rarely fails.
The wedding trip lasted about fifteen months. Berry says it was
worth ;^ 1, 000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in
cold cash — not sentiment.

One day while they were working the claim on Eldorado
Creek, Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered $S9S from a single pan of
dirt. This dust they have saved in a pan by itself

Mrs. C. C. Adams' Letter.

Mrs. Chester C. Adams, who went from Tacoma to Dawson
City last April, writing under date of June 1 7th, says that miners
were then coming into Dawson City daily with all the gold dust
they could carry. It was considered a small matter to have 100
pounds. Many were bringing this amount in as a result of seven
or eight months' working of claims on shares.

Other men brought to Dawson from 200 to 500 pounds of
gold dust, and Mrs. Adams makes the startling statement that one
man had brought in 1300 pounds, which would amount to over
^250,000.

Her husband estimated that the steamer then loading at Daw-
son would take over ;^2,ooo,ooo to St. Michael's, from which
point it will be brought out by the steamers Portland and Excel-
sior on their next trips down. They are due between August 1 5th
and September ist.

Mrs. Adams declares the whole truth regarding Klondike has
not been told and cannot be, because people would not believe

104 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

it. She tells of new discoveries this spring on the Stewart River
and Henderson Creek and the creeks emptying into them.

High water had prevented complete prospecting, but when she
wrote it was known that some dirt considerably above bed rock
would run ^lO and ;^I2 per pan. Bed rock cannot be reached
until winter.

Miners are also preparing to do more thorough work on
Chicken, Mastodon, Miller, American, Last Chance and other
creeks, on which men formerly took out as high as $t,o per day
each. These creeks were deserted, by last fall's rush to the
Klondike.

When she wrote new creeks were being found and prospected
in all directions from Dawson, and every day witnessed a stam-
pede of men to one or another of them.

She speaks of an overland trip as one of pleasure rather than
hardship when properly made.

Ship Gold in Barrels.

Warren Shea, of New Whatcom, Wash., a reputable and re-
liable man, writes from Klondike to his brother, S. Shea, of New
Whatcom, and says the next boat to leave the gold field will
bring out dust and nuggets in barrels.

Two days after the boat that brought out the miners, who
arrived on Puget Sound aboard the steamer Portland, left Daw-
son City one of the largest stores at that place was closed and
the building was turned into a gold packing warehouse. So
great a quantity of gold was offered for shipment that it was
decided to pack it in barrels holding about twenty-two gal-
lons.
The barrels have heretofore been used for packing salt fish.

An interesting letter from Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer
Excelsior, describing his last voyage to Alaska, is as follows :

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

105

"Bonanza Creek dumps into Klondike about two miles 'above
the Yukon.

** Eldorado is a tributary of the Bonanza. There are numer-
ous other creeks and tributaries, the main river being 300 miles
long.

PUGET SOUND AND MT. RAINER.

"The gold so far has been
taken from Bonanza and Eldo-
rado creeks, both well named, for
the richness of the placers is
truly marvelous. ^ '-^^^^i^'iSiSS^s*^

"The Eldorado, thirty miles long, is staked the whole length,
and as far as worked has paid.

" Each claim is 500 feet long and is worth half a million.

"So uniform has thp output been that one miner, who has an
interest in three claims, told me that if offered his choice he
would toss up to decide. One of our passengers, who is taking
$1000 with him, has worked 100 feet of his ground and refused

106 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

$200,000 for the remainder, and confidently expects to clean up
;^400,ooo and more.

*^ He has in a bottle ;^2I2 from one pan of dirt.

" His pay dirt while being washed averaged ;^2 5o an hour to
each man shoveling in.

" Two others of our miners who worked their own claims
cleaned up $6000 from the day's washing.

** There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bed rock, the pay
streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out
while the ground is frozen.

" Of course the ground taken out is thawed by building fires,
and when the thaw comes and water rushes in they set their
sluices and wash the dirt.

Sold Out for $45,000.

** Two of our fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth
a large one in the bush and sold their claims for ;^45,ooo, getting
;^4500 down, the remainder to be paid in monthly installments
of ;^ 1 0,000 each.

" The purchasers had no more than ;^5000 paid. They were
twenty days thawing and getting out dirt.

** Then there was no water to sluice with, but one fellow made
a rocker, and in ten days took out the ;^ 10,000 for the first
installments. So, tunneling and rocking, they took out ;^40,ooo
before there was water to sluice with.

" Of course these things read like the story of Aladdin, but
fiction is not at all in it with facts at Klondike.

" The ground located and prospected can be worked out in a
few years, but there is still an immense territory untouched, and
the laboring man who can get there with one year's provisions
will have a better chance to make a* stake than in any other part
of the world."

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 107

W. F. Parish, of Chicago, has received from a business asso-
ciate in Spokane, Wash., H. D. Heacock, a letter written to the
latter by J. F. Wallace, dated Klondike, Northwest Territory,
May 14th. It is as follows :

" I have been here a month or so. There is a placer mining
camp, discovered last summer and supposed to be as rich as
Alder Gulch in Montana. They have got as much as ;g8oo to
a pan, and will have out over ;g 2,000,000 this winter. There are
three creeks known to be good. Eldorado is the richest, there
being four miles without a blank claim, and all selling from
;^ 50,000 to ;^ 1 00,000 each. Some will not sell at any price. It
is in British territory, fifty miles above Forty Mile Post, on the
bank of the Yukon River. Mostly every one has left Circle
City and come up on the ice. During the winter provisions
were scarce. Boats did not get up here last fall on account of
the ice. Flour was ;^ 1.30 per pound, bacon ;^i.50 per pound,
shovels, ;^20 each. Dogs sold for ;^200 and ;^300 each for
freighting. Freight cost $1 per pound from Circle City here.
Wages are $1$ per day. Lumber is ;^6oo per 1000 feet at the
mines. Mines are from five to twenty miles from Dawson City,
situated at the mouth of the Klondike. Claims are 500 feet in
length. Ground frozen from top to bottom and has to be thawed
with fire. Mostly drifting diggings about twenty feet deep.
Some twenty or thirty claims will open from top. I did not get
here in time to locate, so I am still a prospector. Very mild
winter ; only seventy-four below zero the coldest. River frozen
yet, but expect it to break almost any day."

Inspector Strickland's Report.

A special from Regina, Northwest Territory, says : " Inspector
Strickland, of the Northwest mounted police arrived here last
night from the Yukon.

108 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

" Mr. Strickland does not believe the story of ;^2 50,000 having
been made there by any one man, but says the most liberal truths
read like fairy tales. It is hard to say just what is being made.
The miners are reticent about their earnings. He says that
miners who have come out and staked claims this year, number-
ing about 100, have taken or sent away sums varying from ;^5000
to ;$ 50,000 each, and have kept back considerable sums for
development and other investments. Miners from California,
Australia and South Africa say that nothing in the world has
been struck as rich*

" Inspector Strickland says that if the country fills up as
rapidly as it is doing, the two trading companies will not be able
to supply food for the inhabitants. Provisions are not so dear
as might be expected : Flour is ;^I2 a hundred ; bacon 40 cents
a pound ; canned meats 75 cents and $1, and cariboo and moose
flesh is sold by the Indians at 50 cents a pound. Inspector
Strickland strongly recommends that no person should go out
to the Yukon district without taking with him a year's food, as
well as some money, because paying claims are not always found
immediately, and there is the long and hard work of building a
home. He says that mining is not a picnic. All is hard work.
Wood is scarce and requires a great deal of labor. The climate
is healthy and there is very little sickness. The chief complaints
are scurvy, kidney trouble, and rheumatism.

*' Though the winter is eight months long, it is only three weeks

that the sun is not seen. Miners' wages are fifteen dollars a day,

but this rate will fall soon if the present rush continues from the

Pacific coast."

Finds No Hard Times.

J. P. Staley, who is working a claim on Bonanza Creek, wrote
to C. P. Enright, of Oilman, Ills., as follows :

"There is no doubt this is the best place to make money in

^tll

'>i>.

<:i-

ir!

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 109

the world. Sell out and come here. We need live business
men. Flour is $iz a hundred, bacon 40 cents a pound, sugar
25 cents a pound, rice 25 cents a pound, any kind of dried fruit
25 cents a pound. All kinds of canned fruit, 75 cents a can.
Bring fur moccasins with you. They will fetch from ;^I5 to $2^
a pair.

" Brother Dan and I are working in a mine, or rather in a bed
of a creek. We are getting ;^ 1 5 a day each for ten hours, and it
is thought wages will be ;^25 a day during the winter. It takes
about ;$6oo a year each for provisions, blankets, gloves, mocca-
sins, etc. We expect to remain here all winter. It is too long
a trip to lose the chance of making a stake by refusing to stay.

** Everbody is pleased with the country. There are no hard
times. All have buckskin socks, containing more or less gold
dust. There is no other kind of money.

'* During June and the first days of July it was very hot, but
under the moss, which is eight inches thick, solid ice is encoun-
tered. It has not been dark for over a month, and will not be
until the last of September. It is possible to read any time du-
ring the twenty-four hours. The sun goes behind the moun-
tains about 10.30 p. m. and comes up about i a. m. Old-timers
5ay the winters are not so bad even if the thermometer goes
down to 70 degrees below zero. There is no wind. All dress
in fur clothing.

" I expect to work a claim on shares this week and will make
plenty of money. No matter how big the stories are you hear
of this place they are not big enough. I have received but one
letter from home. It was forty-three days on the way."

Go to Work for Wages.

Two other letters from men who found it necessary to resort
to day labor at the start are interesting reading.

110 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

Hart Humber, a young man who left Rossland, B. C, early-
last spring and arrived at Dawson City, Northwest Territory, on
June 9th, over the Chilkoot Pass route, writes the following :

" Dawson City, N. W. T., June 18, 1897.— Friend Charlie:
After leaving Dyea we had a trip full of hairbreadth escapes and
arrived at Dawson City on June 9th.

" I will start to work to-morrow morning at ;^i.50 per hour.
I will work with pick and shovel about three weeks, and will
then have a better job with the same outfit and will get an ounce
of gold per day ($iy).

" There are at least fifty people going out on the boat to-mor-
row, who are taking out all the way from ;^ 10,000 to ;^ 100,000.

" This is undoubtedly the richest placer camp ever struck.
The diggings are fifteen miles from Dawson. One Montana
man took ;^96,ooo out of forty-five square feet, another took
;^ 1 30,000 out of eighty-five square feet, and there are many
more strikes equally as rich."

Klondike Will Kill Bryan.

Lewis W. Anderson, a Tacoma machinist, wrote this to his
wife :

" I have been here a little more than two months and have
already secured a quarter interest in a claim for which I have
been offered ;^ 26,000, but out of which I expect to make as my
part more than ;^ 100,000 in the next year. This for us, you
know, is a big thing, and yet there are dozens of men who are
making ten times as much.

** When I arrived my money had almost given out. I had
only ;^3i left, so I worked ten days at sawing lumber at ;^I5 per
day to get a start. Nothing like this has ever been heard of in
the world. Money, that is gold dust, is almost as plentiful as
watef There are many hardships to be endured, but I expect

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. Ill

to return to Tacoma next year safe and sound with lots of
money.

" Tell Henry that we will have to change our politics, because
the Klondike will kill Bryan and the silver question and the
money power of Wall Street will try to demonetize gold. The
gold that will come out of here inside of two or three years
will make Wall Street more anxious to demonetize gold than it
ever was to demonetize silver."

But in spite of this long list, at best only partial, of men and
women who have " struck it rich," there is another side to the
question, and fairness towards the reader demands it to have a
showing. Let it speak for itself

Hestwood Tells of Drawbacks.

J. O. Hestwood, who brought a small fortune with him to
Seattle, in an article telegraphed from Seattle to the New York
Worlds says :

" Modern or ancient history records nothing so nch in extent
as the recent discoveries of gold on the tributaries of the Yukon
River. The few millions of dollars recently turned into the
banks and smelters of Seattle and San Francisco from the Klon-
dike district is but a slight indication of what is to follow in the
near future. When we consider the fact that there is scarcely a
shovelful ,of soil in Alaska and the Northwest Territory that
does not yield grains of gold in appreciable quantities, who can
compute the value of the golden treasure that the great country
will yield in the next few years ?

" The Yukon River, which forms a great artery flowing
through this frozen, rock-ribbed region for 2600 miles, seems
to be a providential highway, opened up for the pioneer gold
hunters and their followers, who are numbered by thousands
yearly. There is room in that country for 100,000 miners for

112 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

lOO years. I do not make this statement from what some one

else has told me, or from what I have read. I speak from

actual experience in that land of gold. I have traveled over her

rivers of ice and mountains of snow in the springtime for three

years.

Perils of the Trail.

•' Four years ago last May, when I first went into that country,
little was known of its wonderful possibilities. With a heavy
outfit strapped to the backs of Indians, squaws and dogs, I
struggled over the trail from Dyea, on the southern coast of
Alaska, to Sheep camp, twelve miles distant, which was my first
camping place.

" The softening snow, under the sun's hot rays, rendered
traveling difficult, and it was a pitiable sight to watch the half-
starved, half-clothed Indians struggling along with their heavy
burdens on their backs, climbing the mountain side, frequently
breaking through drifted snow and being buried almost out of
sight ; wading icy streams, falling trom foot logs and enduring
hardships from which death would seem a welcome relief.

" The endurance of these Indians, or human beasts of burden,
was a constant surprise co me. I remember one young buck
whose smallest load was 1 50 pounds. His wife was a young
squaw, who, with seventy-five pounds strapped to her back ar^d
a four-weeks-old child in her arms, struggled up the Chilkoot
Pass, where the declivity was so steep that we were compelled
to dig steps in the ice and snow in order to make the ascent.
One poor old Indian, I remember, had but half a dozen small
cawdlefish and one grouse to subsist on for three days.

"We were landed on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, 4100 feet
above the sea level, at Dyea, in the midst of a terrific snow storm,
such as takes place frequently in this pass in the spring of the
year, endangering the lives of many who attempt going over

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 113

it. The blinding snow rendered it dangerous in the ex-
treme to attempt the descent from the mountain toward Lake
Linderman, the headwaters of the Yukon River. To make
matters worse, the clouds settled down on the mountain top,
and we dared not leave the camp for more than a few hundred
feet for fear we might lose our footing and be plunged over a
precipice or into some yawning chasm in the mountain. A mis-
step meant death.

Among the Awful Glaciers.

" We took shovels and dug a hole in the ice and snow and
spread a tent over it, placing sacks of provisions on the tent to
weigh it down so the fierce wind would not carry it away. Our
supper consisted of a cup of tea and a few crumbs of bread.
Great glaciers were sleeping all around us, but there was little
sleep for the weary travelers that night. The glaciers, however,
seemed to be endowed with life and fits of wakefulness, for every
now and then we would hear a crackling sound, followed by a
noise as of crashing thunder, and 10,000 tons of sleeping giants
would be precipitated from the mountain heights and shattered
into icy diamonds to feed the roaring torrents in the chasm
below.

" Morning broke bright and clear. There was no wood on
the mountain top, and we were compelled to chop up a sled for
fuel. This was expensive. We tried to breakfast on a pot of
half-cooked beans and a little coffee, which would freeze at the
slightest provocation. Two sleds were then loaded with pro-
visions and started down the mountain. They went with a
velocity as if fired from a cannon until they struck the ice in
Crater Lake, three-quarters of a mile below. After that every
foot of the ground we gained was by the most excruciating
labor a human being can be subjected to.

" Two weeks were consumed in reaching Lake Linderman,

114 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

•jleven miles farther on. Another week had passed before a
boat was completed with which we could make our way down
the river. While in camp at Lake Linderman one of the party
injured his knee, and three times a hunting knife had to be
brought into requisition and incisions made. Only after the
most careful nursing was he able to proceed on the journey.
Men are often taken with snow blindness in that country and lie
helpless for days in their tents, unable to cook enough to sus-
tain life. If deserted by their companions in this condition their
fate is sealed.

On to Forty Mile.

" From this point we encountered few difficulties in the way of
river transportation until we reached Forty Mile, which is located
where the 141st meridian crosses the Yukon. Between Marsh
Lake and Lake Lebarge there is sixty miles of river, in which
occur the Grand Canon and the White Horse Rapids. Before
reaching Grand Canon the river is wide and smooth, when all
at once the water is forced through the canon at incredible speed.
The canon is a crevice where the mountain has been split in
twain, apparently, to make an outlet for the water. The walls
are perpendicular on either side, rising to a height of 100 feet.
Three miles below is the White Horse Rapids ; the most danger-
ous portion of the Yukon River.

" I simply mention these facts in order that any one who
thinks of going into that country may know before hand that
the search for gold there is preceded by hardships and privations
which they little dream of unless they have penetrated the
American land of the midnight sun. But after the dangers are
passed the adventurer finds himself in a country rich in mineral
resources.

** Mark you, the country has yet given but a faint indication
of its real we/ilth. The gold that has been found only points

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 115

the way to the true deposits, which will prove to be the wonder
of the world."

John Welch, a former employe in an Indianapolis iron foundry,
has written to his mother from Circle City, saying he has been in
the Alaskan gold fields for fifteen months and could come home
at any time with a few thousand dollars, but he prefers to remain
a while longer and return rich. He says that gold nuggets
worth from twenty to fifty dollars are being found daily, but
many men have become insane from hardships and from dis-
appointment. Successful miners are squandering fortunes in
reckless extravagance.

Says Lucky Ones Are Few.

William Ireland has sent a letter from Alaska which ought to
be a warning to men who are hastening to the field without
due deliberation. He says :

** Undoubtedly it is true that some very rich discoveries have
been made on the Klondike in the last year or so. I have been
in the midst of the excitement and know that a large amount of
gold has been taken out. As in California, a few lucky ones
have made the killing.

*' Of the 200 miners working near where I am located thirty-
one are mine owners and the others laborers. I receive ;$io a
day, and I can work about 165 days during the year. The cost of
living, I should say, would average about $2 per day per year,
and at this price I enjoy none of the luxuries. I am on an
equality with the rest of the workers, only three of whom
receive higher wages.

" The mine-owners are making fortunes. Just how much
money has been taken out can only be roughly guessed at, but
it is certain that the placers here are exceedingly rich. Those
who come from California, if they possess money enough^ may

11 G STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

succeed in making a strike, but I would not advise anyone to
come up here without a sufficient supply of money to carry him
over a year. There is plenty of country to prospect in, and the
summers are delightful, so that for about five and a half months
m the year a miner can work out of doors as well here as in
California. Be sure and send a big supply of papers. If I were
starting out again, I would carry at least one-third of my load
in reading matter. Life in the long months of winter is unbear-
ably dull without something to read."

Kills Himself on the Road.

There is a story of despair and death from the rush into
Alaska gold fields. It comes from Lake Linderman on the
Dyea route, and the victim was Frank Matthews, of Seattle.

Matthews and his partner, George Folsom, had safely crossed
the divide, and were rafting their supplies along the lakes toward
the Yukon. In the rapids between Lakes Linderman and Ben-
nett the raft went to pieces, the supplies were scattered along
the river, and Matthews was rescued after a severe injury to his
leg. His partner placed him in a comfortable position and
started back for help. Before going a hundred yards he heard
the report of a rifle and was horrified to find Matthews shot
dead. Undoubtedly he committed suicide.

Miss Mary E. Mellor, superintendent of the United States
Indian Training School at Unalaska, who came on the Portland,
July 17th, said the hardships in the Northwestern gold region
are terrible. Summers are short, winters long and the supply of
food and clothing inadequate.

" When I left flour was selling at the rate of $SO a. sack, and
if the luxury of eggs was indulged in, the consumers paid $4
per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each egg of the
twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would consider

PLACER MINING— HYDRAULIC SYSTEM

^-^^^

^QMhii

P*^"-- -r flipjiilil'l""-' -^HH^^Ifll^i^

OLD BLOCK HOUSE BUILT IN 1805 FOR PROTECTION
AGAINST THE INDIANS

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 117

freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in
price, the majority of the gold seekers wearing clothes made of
coarse woolen blankets."

Fred. Moss returned from Klondike to Great Falls, Mont.,
and said the upper Yukon was a country of starvation, outlawry
and death. He had no story about how much he was worth
and exhibited no dust.

J. D. Clements, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., told a story something
like Moss'. He said he almost starved to death while prospect-
ing. But he brought back ^40,000 and said he would return to
Klondike in the spring.

Mrs. Poppy Calls on Mrs. Gage.

Among the many women who called on Mrs. Eli Gage in
Chicago before she started for Dawson City was a Mrs. Poppy,
whose husband had spent fifteen years in Alaska. Mrs. Gage
told her that if her husband had been long in the gold fields, he
could probably give her more information than she could.
According to Mrs. Poppy, the stories her husband tells indicate
that there are some things in Alaska that are quite as valuable
as gold, and his experience has demonstrated that some of them
are really ** worth their weight in gold." At one time when he
was in the gold fields he had in his possession 300 ounces of
virgin yellow metal, but not enough food to maintain the spark
of life in a rabbit.

E. W. Egalbrecht, who went over Chilkoot Pass in February,
wrote back from Dawson City in June, as follows :

" If I and many another had known anything about the hard-
ships and exposures of this trip we would not have gone. It
took me three days and half of the nights to reach Pleasant
Camp with my outfit, and I will only add that when I slept at
\he foot of the canon during the last night I awoke to find my

118 STRIKF IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

camp six inches under water. All my clothes were soaked and
my misery was indescribable. My feet especially suffered, be-
cause the skin had become very soft from perspiring in the rub-
ber boots, and sore from walking, so that I suffered excruciating
pain at times. I also suffered much from nausea, not being able
to accustom myself to the food. The everlasting odor of bacon
and beans that clung to everything took away my appetite. The
poorest hut in civilization seems like a palace, but people never
know when they are well off.

" I have worked hard all my life, but it is nothing compared to
what one has to accomplish on a trip like this. Snow and ice
all around wherever one looks, and one's face feels as though he
was being whipped, but we had to push on if we did not want to
perish.

"At Sheep Camp we found about 200 miners, mostly from
the Mexico and Al-Ki, all of whom were unable to proceed to
Stone House, owing to the stormy weather. However, the wind
died out, and now began some climbing up a steep mountain
trail, with 100 pounds on the sled, as much as the strongest man
could pull, otherwise he would be dragged backward. I tell
you one's limbs tremble with the horrible exertion. Such a trip
takes from two to three hours, and we made three of them.

No Laughter in the Camps.

** We were allowed thirty minutes for a lunch of frozen beans
and a pipe of tobacco, and then forward again. If after such a
day's work you pass through a camp you hear no laughter, but
see only pale, tired faces. Everthing is quiet, and you might
kick their hands and they would not move out of your way.

" Fourteen hundred feet up a steep incline, step by step, with
your feet firmly planted down and your pack on your back, you
push on. If you slipped there would be no stop until you

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 119

reached the bottom. In this way our journey continued for
some time. We had many narrow escapes, and suffered severely
from cold, but arrived eventually at our journey's end — Klon-
dike, the land of promise and of gold."

Mrs. Julia Cook, of San Francisco, received the following
letter, via the Portland, from her husband, at Dawson City :

"At last, at last, we reached here to-day. What we have
lived through I will not trust to pen and paper ; the many little
crosses on the road here — they count up over a hundred — speak
only too plainly of the innumerable dangers of this terrible jour-
ney. Let us rather pass over our experiences in silence, for
surely we are fortunate to have reached here. Now we must
get to work.

"The news of the gold strike, though I feared it might be, is
not exaggerated. On the contrary, all the stories are surpassed
by the facts. There are fellows here of doubtful calling who
since last fall have gathered in over ;^ 100,000. Two brothers
have over ;^ 150,000.

" We were in a great hurry to get here, and now learn that for
a month work cannot be begun in the mines, although the roses
and the most beautiful flowers are blooming. Still we can dig
down but a few inches without striking ground frozen hard as
rock. There is all kinds of work going on in this mushroom
city, still there are plenty of idle men."

Hurley's Pay-Dirt Swept Away.

James Young, General Agent at Milwaukee for the Great
Northern Railroad, received a Klondike nugget one day in
August from James Hurley, a well-known mining promoter,
who was active in operations on the Gogebic iron range during its
palmy days.

Mr. Hurley has had an interesting experience in Alaska. Mr.

120 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

Young sold him a ticket to that region some months ago, and
was surprised to hear from him to-day.

Accompanying the package containing the piece of metal was
a letter from Mr. Hurley which stated that he had not become
very rich, although he had acquired more money in Alaska than
he ever had before.

This is not Mr. Hurley's first experience in gold mining in
Alaska. He went to that country with several friends as long
ago as the 70' s.

Most of the miners at that time were so poor they were com-
pelled to wash the dirt as fast as possible, that they might get
enough gold to exchange at the store for the necessaries of life.

Hurley and his companions had plenty of money, and they
conceived and partly carried out the idea of digging out a pile of
the pay dirt, building their cabin up against it and washing it out
during the winter, alongside of the fire in the cabin.

By this plan they expected to keep themselves employed all
winter, whereas by the ordinary method they would have to dis-
continue operations all through the long winter.

Just before the winter set in there was a big freshet that
washed away the pile of pay dirt that they had been working all
summer to secure.

They were nearly out of money and lost courage. They made
their way back to their homes, and Hurley did not return until about
a year ago.

Jerseymen Have Good Luck.

W. J. Hibbert, one of a party of seven from Trenton, N. J.,
who went to the Yukon late in 1896, grubstaked by some Phila-
delphia and Trenton merchants, has written back to his " angels"
that the seven prospectors have laid claim to a large tract of rich
dredger land, and that they will add to that area twenty-one
placer claims.

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 121

He tells some big stories about the luck of the prospectors in
that country. One man worked five days, at the end of which
time he cleaned up ;^40,ooo. Another man who had worked
industriously two months found at the end of that time that he
was $ 1 50,000 ahead of the game.

J. R. Fitzgerald, of Springfield, O., wrote that a boat which
he and his two companions had built was wrecked on the trip to
Dawson City, and they lost everything they had ; but he had
some friends connected with the Alaska Commercial Company
and went to work at ten dollars a day as soon as he got there.
He said the most dangerous places are the canon. White Horse
Rapids, and Leads River, many people being drowned at those
three places.

Fitzgerald said that reports as to the richness of the Klondike
fields have not been exaggerated, and he knows of as high as
;^iooo worth of dust being taken out of a single pan, while some
claims now pay as high as ;^ 12,000 to ;^ 15,000 a day.

The prospectors are locating new claims every day, which seem
to be paying as well as the old. He said that miners frequently
came down from the diggings loaded with sacks of dust weigh-
ing from 100 to 300 pounds. He said that one eastern young
man sold his claim for ;^ 30,000 and died of heart disease just as
he was about to board the steamer on the return trip.

Perish on the Glacier.

Few of the tales of hardship endured by gold seekers in the
Arctic surpass in thrilling sadness the story of the deaths of
Charles A. Blackstone, George Botcher and J. W. Malinque, ex-
pert miners from Seattle, who were killed on the glacier last
April. The three men went north on the steamer Lakme in
March, 1896. For a time they were at Cook's Inlet, and later
they went to Circle City. They remained in the district until

122 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

March of this year, but fortune did not favor them, and March
25th they started back to Seattle, intending to go to Portage Bay,
an arm of Prince William Sound. March 27th they were seen
on the glacier by a Mr. Gladhouse and by a Swede named Peter-
son. They were never seen alive afterwards.

Before Blackstone left this city he asked a friend, George Hall,
to look out for his wife and family should anything happen him.
When word reached this city that the three men had left Circle
City and had not made connections with the steamer at Portage
Bay Hall went to Alaska to investigate. He easily found traces
of the men. They had lost their way and had ascended that
terrible mountain, coming out on the wrong side of the glacier.
Mr. Hall found how Blackstone, Botcher and Malinque, after
searching the top of this perpendicular cliff, had crawled under a

ledge of ice.

Miners Frozen to Death.

The following statement was found on Blackstone's body :

** Saturday, April 4th 1897. — This is to certify that Botcher
froze to death on Tuesday night. J. W. Malinque died on Wed-
nesday forenoon, being frozen so badly. G. A. Blackstone had
his ears, nose and four fingers on his right hand and two on his
left hand frozen an inch back. The storm drove us on before it.
It overtook us within an hour of the summit and drove us before
it. It drove everything we had over the cliff except blankets and
moose hide, which we all crawled under. Supposed to have been
40 degrees below zero. On Friday I started for Salt Water. I
don't know how I got there without outfit. On Saturdaj^ after-
noon I gathered up everything. Have enough grub for ten
days, providing bad weather does not set in. Sport was blown
over the cliff. I think I can hear him howl once in awhile."

The bodies of Malinque and Botcher were never found.

H. Juneau, of Dodge City, Kansas, who was one of the

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 123

founders of the town of Juneau, had something to say of the
dark side of life in Alaska, in these words :

" I have found the country full of disappointments, and I don't
want to paint the picture too bright. Enough has not been said
of the dark side.

" It is no place for men of weak constitution. The hardships
to be encountered require the strongest hearts and sinews as
well.

'* I have seen nothing published of the fact that a large portion
of the country is covered with a moss and vine which contains
sharp thorns, like porcupine quills, with saw edges. These will
penetrate leather boots, and when once in the flesh nothing but a
knife will remove them. These are worse than the mosquito
pest.

"Another thing which must not be overlooked is the total lack
of law in the interior. When only Indians and a few prospect-
ors were in the country there was little need of courts, but with
the great influx of mixed humanity lawlessness is almost sure to
break out.

"Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins
are mainly filled with ice. The wtather is always hard in great
extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club,
the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch.
Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and
devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and ' torturous ' as
well as tortuous."

Leave Good Claims for Better.

The opinion of Mrs. Eli Gage on the Klondike situation is
interesting reading, for her opportunities to know have been
exceptional. She says :

** There are many claims along the best known creeks that

1^24

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

have been abandoned. The prospectors would be digging on
them contentedly, earning big money every day. There would
then come a report from some neighboring place of fabulously
rich finds, and there would follow at once a wild rush. In this
way sites that paid moderately were passed in the search of
others that would banish poverty in a month. The two kings of
the region were wise enough to profit by the craze which carried

VERTICAL SECTION OF A QUARTZ MINE.

the men along, and they bought claim after claim along the
Bonanza and the Eldorado. I do not think any man on earth
can guess how much these men are worth to-day. They would
be millionaires to stay at home the balance of their lives and
sell interests in the mines they now have in operation.

" Experts say that the best mines are still to be found. It is
an old saying that the existence of the placer mine merely
shows that not far away the mother rock must be found. It

TOTKM POLE, FORT WRANGEL, ALASKA.

THOUSANDS OF SEALS— ST. PAUL ISLAND, ALASKA

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 125

looks as if the gold in the loose dirt about the creeks had been
brought down from the mountains by some great glacier. The
men who have gone in, and are going in, have no capital for
machinery and the placer mining is the only kind they can
undertake. The late comers and the men with money for
machinery will probably search for quartz veins and get bigger
fortunes with but comparatively small expenditures. It is
reported by government officials and everybody else that the
whole country is gold producing, and the work of 10,000 men
who will be able to get there within the next twelve months will
not begin to exhaust the resources.

Advice of a '49er.

No better words to close a chapter on the " luck " and experi-
ences of the Klondike argonauts have been written than these
from a '49er who " made his pile" before California was a State,
and who still sympathizes with each one of the "thousand"
gold seekers in the Arctic wilds who believes he is the " one "
who is predestined to have fortune thrust upon him in the Yukon
valley. He says, this snow-capped veteran of the early placers :

" It was this belief that encouraged the multitude of '49, and
populated California with refugees from every quarter of the
globe ; it was the same idea that sent the tide of a tumultuous
humanity into the deserts of Nevada to hunt for silver ; it was
the same egotism that starved on Fraser River and shivered in
the blizzards of Cariboo ; it was the same spirit that went up
against the false hope of Panamint, and wandered helplessly
across the hot sands of Lower California.

" So it will be this time ; so it has ever been from the going
out of Ishmael ; and so it will ever be until men cease to care
for gold — subduing the love of riches, which the wise man has
said is the root pf evil.

126 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

'* Of course, the effort to deter these men from hazarding
their lives and risking their fortunes in the Arctic is merely
perfunctory. Even those who are advising that the wolf of
Unalaska be permitted to howl undisturbed do not expect that
the beast will long enjoy that privilege.

Survival of the Fittest.

" The weaklings may perish, as the advisory Doard of editors
predicts, but the strength, the bone and sinew and the brawn of
this movement will pull through, barring the accident that the
litany refers to as * battle, murder and sudden death.'

"These are of the stuff that builds commonwealths and per-
petuates races of men. These are of the lineage that followed
the Vikings ; the ancestors of these conquered with William
and crossed the storm-lashed Atlantic to subdue a wilderness
and found an empire.

" These are the kind of men they Waiit, whether they return
from the Yukon burdened with wealth or as poor as they went.
There's good leather in the stock that v/ill come out of that
frozen desolation, and it will work up into excellent material in
a land where energy compels prosperity, and industry is rewarded
with contentment.

" Suppose it is true that hardships must be endured in this
quest? Are they any more disheartening than those which the
poor man faces in the overcrowded cities ?

" Let it be conceded that the climate is rigorous. The winters
of Minnesota are almost as severe, and the thermometer often
registers as low in Quebec and the northern cities of Europe.

" The climate of Alaska may be deadly at certain seasons of
the year if the inhabitant exposes himself to its clemency, but
the mortality resulting from such foolishness will not, under the
most favorable circumstances, equal the record of the recent

STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE. 127

" hot spell " in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and throughout
the Middle West.

"As for starvation, there is less danger of that unhappy con-
summation in a mining camp than there is in the most opulent
' centre of civilization.'

Makes Light of Journey.

" The distance and the difficulty of reaching the mines oi
Alaska have been urged as an obstacle to be seriously considered
by those who contemplate this adventure.

" As a matter of fact, it is a less arduous journey from New
York to Dawson City than from Sandy Hook to Johannesburg.
Steamers comfortably fitted are plying between San Francisco and
St. Michael's, at the mouth of the Yukon, and thence to Klondike.

" The voyage is long, true, and somewhat expensive ; but,
aside from these natural consequences of a trip to the Arctic,
there is no valid reason why anyone who wishes to go there
should be discouraged.

"As for the tedium of the voyage, that can be endured in
anticipation of the varied excitement that awaits the traveler at
the end of his journey, and the expense that may attend the trip
must be hopefully borne in the certainty of a manifold return
when the industry and ability of the adventurer is put to the
test in the land of the long twilight.

" The most encouraging information that has come out of the
north with the homing millionaires is the assertion that a miner
in Alaska does not need to know anything about mining. If all
accounts are accurate, in fact the less a man knows about * for-
mations,' ' strata,' * deposits,' or ' dips, spurs, and angles,' the
more likely he will be to strike it rich."

" It is the tenderfoot who finds the plethoric ' pockets ' of the
Klondike placers. As soon as he has been in the country long

128 STRIKE IT RICH ON KLONDIKE.

enough to think he knows all about it, his *luck' forsakes him
and it is tinie for him to come home. The *tip' of a Freiberg
expert on the Yukon isn't worth the icicles on his Vandyke
Touting on the sixty-fourth degree of north latitude is not as
absolute as it is at Ingleside.

" A great many people are encouraged to believe that the
stories of hardships and privation in the diggings are exaggerated
because several women have weathered an Arctic winter — some
of them have lived for two and three years in Circle City and St.
Michael's. But this is no criterion of a possible mildness of cli-
mate in that region.

" Last season a woman old enough to admit her age climbed
Mount Shasta, and, within a thousand feet of the apex, was com-
pelled to shame the young men of the party into renewed exer-
tion by guying them on their lack of pluck and endurance. The
circumstance that women can withstand the rigor of the Arctic
is no evidence that a man would not succumb to it, for it is a
physiological fact that women may display a more commendable
fortitude under stress than her masculine congener.

CHAPTER IV.
How To Get There.

Main Routes to the Klondike — By Water and Land — Voyage via St. Michael's
— Trip Up the Yukon — Choice of Trails via Juneau and Dyea — In by
Chilkoot Pass— Over the Chilkat— The White Pass Route — Lieutenant
Schwatka's Trail via Taku — By Way of Fort Wrangel and Lake Teslin
— Railroads Suggested — The " Back Door" Route — Up the Copper
River— By Moose Factory and Chesterfield Inlet — Other Trails — Tele-
graph and Telephone — Postal Service — Outfits for Miners — List of
Necessaries.

THOUGH in a sense all roads lead to the Klondike, the
gold-seeker does not become especially interested in a
choice of routes until he reaches the Pacific seaboard.
Then, whether he be at San Frascisco, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma
or Vi( toria, the problem of " how to get there " becomes an
engrossing one. Time, money and danger and the season of
the year must all be considered, and the question is too often
more perplexing than the unposted traveler can successfully
grapple alone and hope to get the best solution. At the present
time, in addition to the established routes, there are dozens of
projected transportation schemes in the air, all possible to
develop into untility on short nclicc. The wise argonaut,
then, when settling upon his itinerary, will consult the latest
sources of information — railroad and steamship literature and
the folders and guides of land transportation concerns — and
make up his mind accordingly.

Two Main Routes.

In a general way there are two main routes into the gold fields
— the one entirely by water, via St. Michael's and the Yukon ;
» 129

130 MOW TO CET THERE.

the other by water and land, via steamer to Fort Wrangel or
Juneau, and then over the passes and down the rivers to Daw-
son City.

The former is only available during the "open" season, for
the Yukon River, throughout the greater portion of its course,
is closed by ice from September to May. When the river is
open, however, this route, though the longest in point of time and
distance, has certain advantages, especially in the line of comforts,
for it avoids the hazards of the mountain passes and the perils
of the inland rapids, as well as the arduous labor of the
portages as yet inseparable from the overland routes ; and the
traveler is reasonably sure of three " square " meals daily and a
warm, dry bed at night. To people who have money and
reasonable leisure, and who are not used to roughing it, these
are advantages not to be lightly foregone.

On The Overland.

The latter, the overland route, is shorter in time and distance,
but more laborious, and, if the traveler has much of an outfit,
and the ** boom " prices for '' packing " keep up, not less
expensive than the water way. It has the somewhat dubious
advantage, as things are now, of being measurably " open " all
the year round. But to those who know what a mountain
pass in Arctic weather means — rain, snow, hail, mud, ice,
glaciers, fords, upsets, wrecks, perilous days of Sisyphean
toil and deadly nights in sodden clothing on frosty beds — there
will easily be apparent the dark side of the overland route. By
St. Michael's and the Yukon, the traveler will find most things
done for him ; by the mountain passes and the upper rivers he
will have to do most things for himself and the " tenderfoot " is
apt to find his troubles multiply as he presses forward, till only
the most stalwart and the stoutest hearted will get through to

HOW TO GET THERE. 131

the modern Ophir with heart or health to seek the fortunes
hidden in the gravel.

There is still another overland route than those via Juneau,
Dyea, or Wrangel. It is termed expressively the " back-door"
route or " inside track," and is simply the old Hudson Bay trunk
line to the North. It goes from Calgary, in Alberta, by railroad,
stage or wagon, and cafion to Fort Macpherson at the mouth of
the Mackenzie River, and then by the Peel River, leading south-
ward to the gold fields.

The time via St. Michael's is from thirty-five to sixty days in
the summer season ; via Juneau, Dyea or Wrangel, from sixty
days upward according to the season ; by the "back door" route
from sixty to ninety days.

Sailing to St. Michaers.

St. Michael's may be reached by the steamers of any of the
great commercial companies from San Francisco or Seattle,
though up to the present time the bulk of the transportation
business has been in the hands of the North American and the
Alaska companies, the old-time rivals for the trade of the Yukon
country. The former owns the stores along the Yukon River,
and has been a practical monopoly except where it has come in
contact with the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company.

Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Archipelago, is the first port
made on he outward trip to St. Michael's. Here the company
owning the sealing privilege on the Pribyloff Islands has a coal-
ing and supply station. It is 1800 miles on the way to the gold
fields. Then away to the north, 800 miles through Behring Sea
and past the seal islands to St. Michael's. The journey has so
far been a pleasant one, unless the weather has been stormy.
The one great peril of this route lies in that portion of the sea
known as •• the Boneyard of the Pacific," from the vast number

132 HOW TO GET THERE.

of ships which have gone down beneath its treacherous surface,
and which is still one of the most dangerous spots known to
northern navigators. This once passed, the other hazards of the
long voyage can happily be made light of

On St. Michael's Island.

St. Michael's, on the island of the same name, near the mouth
of the Yukon, used to be a Russian fortification, and some of the
old Russian buildings are still standing; but for many years it
has been the transfer and forwarding point for all goods going
into or coming out of the interior. Both the commercial com-
panies doing business on the river have warehouses here. During
the two or three months of open navigation it is a place of con-
siderable activity. Then communication is cut off, and it goes
into the long, uneventful night of winter.

The inhabitants of St. Michael's are the white resident employes
of the companies, the collector of customs, several missionaries,
and a number of traders. There are several hundred Eskimos
on the island. The surface of the country immediately sur-
rounding St. Michael's is gently rolling, and in summer it is
covered with a great growth of grass, having more the appear-
ance of Nebraska prairies than of an Arctic region. A series of
six or seven low, cone-shaped hills across the shallow estuary
are extinct volcanoes. In all the landscape there is no timber,
nor are there trees anywhere near Behring Sea.

At St. Michael's passengers and freight are transferred from
the ocean liners to the river steamers. These run down the
coast sixty miles to the north mouth of the great Yukon, a river
larger than the Mississippi and navigable for boats of light draught
for 2300 miles above its mouth, and there begins the long journey
up stream to Dawson City and the golden placers.

The source of the Yukon is in the Rocky Mountains and in British

HOW TO GET THERE. 138

territory, at a point northeast of Sitka. The river drains prac-
tically the same territory in its headwaters as the Stickinc, Peace,
Columbia and Frazer rivers, all well known for many years to
treasure-hunters because of the great placers in their valleys. It
was natural, therefore, to expect that gold would be found along
the main channel of the Yukon or some of its tributaries. Ex-
plorers were sent out from two bases. One set went up the river
from its mouth, traversing the whole of Alaska from the west to
east.

Fine gold dust, in small quantities, was found at the mouth of
the Porcupine River, a stream that joins the Yukon about lOO
miles west of the boundary, and also near the mouth of Forty-
Mile Creek, most of whose course lies in Alaska, but which
crosses into British territory before emptying into the big river.
Fort Cudahy is situated here, and Circle City, where there were
other mining camps, is about fifty miles further west. These
places are about 800 or 900 miles from the sea, if one travels by
steamboat, and in the winter are completely cut off from the outer
world. The discoveries above the Porcupine are the cause of the
present rush of gold hunters — they are the richest placers in the

world.

Stop at Fort Yukon.

The first point of more than passing importance on the journey
up the river is Fort Yukon, a misnomer as to the " Fort," as is
the case with all the stations on the lower river. As stations in
the wilderness, most trading posts were fortified after a fashion
in the early days, and this custom led to dignifying them by the
term " fort." Fort Yukon was established by Robert Bell as a
post of the Hudson Bay Company, he assuming that it was in
Canadian territory. He made a mistake of 300 miles, measured
by the river. Hudson Bay Company held the post until it was
warned away by an American officer.

134 HOW TO GET THERE.

Here the argonaut finds himself fairly under the Arctic circle.
In June and July he will see the sun twenty-four hours without
a break, and all along the river at this time he can read a paper
at any time of day or night without a lamp.

Above Fort Yukon is the once important town of Circle City,
formerly a mail station and a thriving post, but now practically
depopulated by the stampede to the Klondike gold fields, higher
up the stream. Circle City stands on a dead-level plain, twenty
feet higher than the river at the ordinary stage of water. In the
distant background is a low range of purple hills, which marks
the dividing line between the Birch Creek district and the river.
On the opposite side from the town the river runs away into space,
with no very well defined shore line.

It is a town of log huts, square and low, with wide projecting
eaves and dirt roofs. Two men would get out the logs, build
the cabin and ** chink " it with the abundant moss in two weeks ;
and before the Klondike fever such a house would rent for fif-
teen dollars a month (in gold dust) or sell for ;^5oo. But the
inhabitants have fled and most of the cabins are empty. From
the present outlook hardly a dozen white persons, and perhaps
a dozen Indians, will be left in the town during the coming
ivinter. In April it had i 500 white residents. It also had dogs,
unlimited quantities of them, worse pests than mosquitos, but
the call for dogs in "packing" miners' outfits over the south-
eastern passes materially reduced the supply. A good dog is
v^orth ;^ 1 00 in dust in Circle City.

Gold on Birch Creek Claim.

The rich discoveries of gold on Mammoth and Mastodon
Creeks and many gulches which terminate in these creeks all
tributaries of Birch Creek, "just over the divide," gave Circle
City its first boom. Many wise men among the miners prophesy

HOW TO GET THERE. 135

that when the surrounding country is carefully prospected, its

diggings will be found equal to the Klondike, and Circle City

will again become a formidable rival of Dawson City.

At Forty-Mile, or Fort Cudahy, across the boundary line in

the British territory, the next important stop, some gold was

found by the expedition mentioned heretofore. This place was

named for John Cudahy, of Chicago, of the North American

Transportation and Trading Company, and was for years the

company's headquarters on the upper river. It contains about

200 log cabins of the prevailing Yukon style — square, low, flat,

and dirt-roofed — the companies offices, a few stores and saloons,

and a hotel or two. Whiskey is worth ten dollars a quart, or

fifty cents a drink, and half a dollar will buy three loaves of

Yukon bread.

Arrive At Dawson City.

Passing Fort Reliance, the next stop is Dawson City, the
metropolis of the gold fields, the Mecca of the 'p/er, the thres-
hold of the Klondike treasure house. This new town and trad-
ing post, though barely six months old, is already the busiest
town on the river. " Old Joe " Ladue, as he is locally and
unappropriated named, for he is not old at all, the owner of the
town site, was being kept busy selling town lots at ;^5ooo each
when he made up his mind last summer to run back to New
York and claim for his bride the sweetheart who had been wait-
ing for him to " make a stake " under the Midnight Sun.

There were said to be 3000 people in Dawson City in July
and that number has been greatly increased since by the influx
of men with the gold fever who had had prescribed " Klondike
refrigeration" as a remedy for the almost hopeless malady,
Dawson City will probably have to winter 12,000 to 16,000
people, and there has been general fear that there would be great
suffering there this winter in consequence of lack of supplies and

136 HOW TO GET THERE.

shelter for the great rush of unprepared prospectors. And
winter at Dawson City begins in September. However, strenu-
ous effort was made up to the last moment by the commercial
companies to get in provisions against a possible famine, and as
many of the later argonauts carried in fairly good and liberal
outfits, it is hoped the long season of cold may pass without
general disaster.

A miner who came in on one of the late steamers, described
Dawson City as wild with speculation. He said :

" Speculation is already the ruling idea. A purchaser inspects
a claim that he thinks he would Hke to buy. He offers just
what he thinks it is worth. There is no skirmishing over
figures ; the owner accepts or refuses, and that is the end of it.
With this claim goes the season's work. By that I mean the
great pile of earth that may contain thousands or may not be
worth the expense necessary to run it through the sluice. That
is a chance one must take, however, and few have lost anything
by it this season.

" It may be said with absolute truth that Dawson City is one
of the most moral towns of its kind in the world. There is
little or no quarreling, and no brawls of any kind, though there
is considerable drinking and gambling. Every man carries a
pistol if he wishes to, yet few do, and it is a rare occurrence
when one is displayed.

Around The Gaming Table.

" The principal sport with the mining men is found around
the gambling table. There they gather after nightfall and play
until late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too,
it sometimes costing as much as fifty dollars to draw a card. A
game of ;$2000 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all
that, there has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy

138 HOW TO GET THERE.

and quarrelsome, he is quietly told to get out of the game, and
that is the end of it.

" Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely
isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once
every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a few
miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have our
mail addressed. It is true, the cost is pretty high — a dollar a let-
ter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of money
we are able to keep in direct communication with our friends on
the outside.

[The Canadian authorities have since established a post-office
at Dawson City, with regular service. — Ed.]

In the way of public institutions, our camp is at present with-
out any, but by the next season we will have a church, a music
hall, school-house and hospital. This last institution will be
under the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have
already been stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty-
Mile Camp."

Mines Not At Dawson.

The general impression that the mines are at Dawson City is
erroneous. They are twelve to fifteen miles up the Klondike
River, and are easily reached by poling up the stream in summer
or sledding over its frozen surface in winter.

Dawson City is under the British Government, and its laws
are enforced by the famous mounted police.

Inspector Strickland, of the Canadian mounted police, who
came down from Alaska on the Portland, said :

" When I left Dawson City there were 800 claims staked out.
We can safely say that there was about ;^ 1,500,000 in gold
mined last winter. The wages in the mines were fifteen dollars
a day, and the saw mill paid laborers ten dollars a day.

" The claims now staked out will afford employment to about

. HOW TO GET THERE. 139

5000 men, I believe. If a man is strong, healthy and wants
work he can find employment at good wages. Several men
worked on an interest, or what is termed a ** lay," and during
the winter realized ;^5ooo to ;^ 10,000 each. The mines are
from thirty-five to 100 miles from the Alaska boundary."

Inspector Strickland paid the miners at Dawson City a com-
pliment, saying " they do not act like people who have suddenly
jumped from poverty to comparative wealth. They are very
level headed. They go to the best hotels and live on the fat of
the land, but they do not throw money away, and no one starts
in to paint the town red."

Price List at Dawson.

He gave the following price list as a sample of the cost of living
in Dawson City : Flour, $ 1 2 per hundredweight. Following are
prices per pound: Moose ham, $1 \ caribou meat, 65 cents;
beans, 10 cents; rice, 25 cents; sugar, 25 cents; bacon, 40
cents; potatoes, 25 cents; turnips, 15 cents; coffee, 50 cents;
dried fruits, 3 5 cents ; tea, $ I ; tobacco, ;^ i . 50 ; butter, a roll, ;^ i . 50 ;
eggs, a dozen, ;^i.5o; salmon, each, $1 to ;^i.5o; canned fruits,
50 cents ; canned meats, 75 cents ; liquors, per drink, 50 cents ;
shovels, ;^2.5o; picks, $$ ; coal oil, per gallon, $1 ; overalls,
^^1.50; underwear, per suit, ;^ 5 to $7.^0] shoes, $^ \ rubber
boots, $\o to $\i,.

The latest reports are that these figures are still maintained,
despite the great amount of supplies brought in by the commer-
cial companies, and it is expected they will go higher rather than
lower before spring comes around again.

Whisky is fifty cents a drink, and some of the saloons are said
to be making ^6000 to ^8000 a day. There is some gambling,
though not of a bloodthirsty kind, and chips are commonly ;^500
a "stack."

140 HOW TO GET THERE.

Should the argonaut decide to go in by the Juneau and Dyea,
or '* mountain" routes, he will find the trail by Chilkoot Pass the
one most talked of, and will probably this fall decide to try his
fortunes by that way, though the spring and perhaps the winter
even may find the Chilkat, the Taku and the White Pass routes,
or even the Lake Teslin trail, becoming favorites.

Right here the gold-hunter, having fixed on his route, needs
to make very sure of one other thing — his " outfit." When
he leaves Dyeaor Juneau he leaves civilization and all its adjuncts
of stores and traders behind him. From Dyea to Dawson he
must depend on his outfit for practically everything he has to
eat, drink and wear and for every tool and appliance with which
to build or repair any article needed for the long journey by trail
and stream, 700 miles, to Dawson.

Via Chilkoot Pass.

If the ** outfit" is all right,' the prospector engages Indians at
Dyea to pack his goods in a dugout and tow them to the head
of canoe navigation on the Dyea River which is about six miles.
If possible the Indians should be hired to pack the goods over
the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Linderman, about twenty-two or
twenty-three miles. The old rate for this work was from five to
sixteen cents a pound, but the great stampede of prospectors has
caused the price to rise to twenty-one and even twenty-two cents,
and even at that almost prohibitive figure it is often impossible
for prospectors to hire native carriers, and as a result they have
to pack their outfits over themselves. A Chilkoot Indian will
carry from 250 to 300 pounds over the pass, but even the
strongest white man can *' tote " little more than 100 pounds,
and consequently when the Indians fail him, has to make " double
trips," that is, take a pack a mile or two, cache it and return for
another one, and keep this tedious and heart burning labor up

HOW TO GET THERE. 141

until the last article has been wearily dropped on the shores of
Lake Linderman.

Many pack horses have been taken to Dyea for use on the
Chilkoot Pass trail, and dogs are also to be experimented with
this winter in hauling supplies.

From the head of canoe navigation a well-defined trail leads
to the canon at the summit. The first day's camp is made at the
entrance to the canon ; the next day's camp is' well along in that
formidable pass at a natural curiosity known as the " Stone
House," a much frequented camping ground for packers. The
place affords good shelter in stormy weather and, as it is very
frequently impossible to cross the Divide on stormy days, pack-
ers have here a good place to wait for fair weather before attempt-
ing the fearful toil of the ascent.

An early start is necessary in crossing the Divide, the great
Peraier Glacier, for it is urgent that the march should be made
in one day in order to camp three or four miles beyond the
Divide, where there are sticks and moss for a fire.

Passing the Divide.

Dr. E. O. Crewe describes the "passing" in these graphic
words :

" Having arrived at the foot of the now almost perpendicular
mountain of ice and half thawed snow, we struggle upwards, some-
times up to our knees in slush, sometimes clingmg with hands and
feet to the slippery mountain. Zigzagging from one side to the
other until about half way up the ascent we drop our packs and
survey the remainder of our journey up the glacier. On our left
hand further progress is impossible ; a perpendicular wall of deep
blue ice towers up a thousand feet above the actual pass ; on our
right, we notice a pile of broken rocks that have crumbled from
the cliff that forms the right hand side of the canon. Towards

142 HOW TO GET THERE.

these rocks we slowly pick our way, over which we slowly wend
towards the base of the the cliff, and, having gained this com-
paratively comfortable foothold, our progress is quite easy and
fairly rapid. Ever keeping along the base of the cliff, ever get-
ting nearer the crest of the ridge, we have little difficulty in
managing our somewhat bulky pack, and almost before we are
aware of it we have crossed the Divide and are over the most
laborious part of our journey.

Off For Lake Linderman.

" Of course, if more than one trip is necessary the assent will
consume much more time. One should easily make the journey
from Dyea to Lake Linderman in three days with an ordinary
pack if * double tripping ' is unnecessary. After resting awhile
on the summit of Chilkoot Pass, admiring the magnificent
grandeur of the scene we begin our decent to the lake ; turning
a little towards the left after coming over the divide we follow
the trend of the hills which lead us down towards the North
and we are very soon able to see Crater Lake (the actual source
of the Yukon). Skirting the right hand shore of this lake, we
soon find ourselves in a well defined ravine, with a well worn
trail running down the right hand side of the little stream that
finds its way from Crater Lake and empties into Lake Linder-
man, As soon as we find a convenient place to pitch our tent,
we make ready for camping, and thoroughly enjoy a hearty meal
followed by a well-earned refreshing sleep. The following morn-
ing, as early as possible, we break camp and start with our pack
toward Lake Linderman. A few hours of easy walking will
bring us to the lake, where we must at once break camp and
prepare to go the balance of the way by water."

The next thing, after getting safely over the pass, is to build a
boat. Four men who are handy with tools can take a standing

HOW TO GET THERE. 143

spruce, saw out lumber and build a boat large enough to carry
them and their 4000 pounds of provisions all in a week. It
should be a good, staunch boat, for there are storms to be en-
countered on the lakes, and rapids, moreover, that would shake
a frail craft to pieces. The boat should have a sail that could be
raised and lowered conveniently.

Some enterprising men have built a saw mill on the shores of
Lake Linderman, and sell boats or lumber. A boat large enough
for four men and their outfits costs $y^. Lumber is worth j^ioo
a 1000 feet, and 500 feet is enough for a boat.

From the end of navigation on Lake Linderman a trail leads
over to Lake Bennett, making a portage of a mile and a half
There is a river between the lakes, but the rapids are so danger-
ous none but the most fool-hardy attempt to run them, and many
lives and a great amount of property have been lost in the reck-
less ventures. Some gold-hunters who go in by Chilkoot Pass
make a raft at Lake Linderman, sail it down to the portage and
abandon it there, and carry their goods to Lake Bennett, where
there is excellent timber for boat building.

Down Lake Bennett.

With boat built one starts from the head of Lake Bennett on
the last stage of the trip — a sail of 600 miles down stream (not
counting lakes) to Dawson City, at the mouth of the Klondike.
With fair weather, at the evening of the second day, one reaches
Miles canon, the beginning of the worst piece of water on the
trip. The ftsyager has passed through Lake Bennett and Takish
and Marsh lakes. At the head of Miles canon begins three
miles of indiscribably rough water, which terminate in White
Horse Rapids.

During the rush of gold-hunters it is probable there will be
men at Miles caiion who will make a business of taking boats

i44 ttOW TO GET THERE.

through the rapids, and unless one is an experienced river man
it is economy to pay a few dollars for such service, rather than
to take the greater chances of losing an outfit or even a life, for
many have been drowned at this passage. Probably ten per
cent, of the men who attempt the rapids are drowned.

Even lowering an empty boat through the rapids, with a rope
fastened to each end of it, very often results in the loss of the
boat, which is at this point of our journey exceedingly valua!:)le.

In Miles Canon.

Miles Canon, which is also called Grand Canon, is the first
dangerous water that the navigator encounters. Although this
section of the river has a normal width of more than 200 yards,
it is confined for a distance of three-quarters of a mile to a space
hardly fifty feet across, with perpendicular walls of red volcanic
rock. This canon is broken in one place — about midway — by
a circular enlargement of the channel, which causes a whirlpool
of wonderful suction on each side of the river.

After the rapids comes Lake LaBarge, a beautiful sheet of
water thirty-five miles long, and in this connection a suggestion
is desirable. Near the foot of the lake, on the left side, is a
creek coming in which marks a good game country. A year
ago, and in previous seasons, moose, were plentiful there and in
the rugged mountains near the head of the lake there always
have been good hunting grounds for mountain sheep. A delay
of a week either in this locality or almost any of the small
streams that flow into the succeeding 200 miles of river, for the
purpose of laying in a good supply of fresh meat, is worth con-
sidering. Moose meat that can be preserved until cold weather
sets in will sell for a fancy price.

There is another suggestion to consider before arriving at
Sixty-mile. All along that part of the river arc mjiny limbered

HOW TO GET THERE. 145

islands, covered with tall, straight spruce. With such an influx
of prospectors as is expected at Dawson City before winter
begins, building logs will be in great demand. Cabin logs ten
inches in diameter and twenty feet long sold at Circle City last
year, in raft, at three dollars each. With an increased demand,
and with better mines, the prices at Dawson City may be much
higher. Four men can handle easily a raft of 500 or 600 such
logs. Getting them out would be a matter of only a week or
two.

From Lake LaBarge the journey is through '^hirty-mile River,
the Lewis River, 1 50 miles to Five-Finger Rapids, thence to the
Yukon at Fort Selkirk and then down stream 2i;o miles to Daw-
son City.

Gold in Hootalinqua.

Within a few hours' run below Lake LaBarge is the Hoota-
linqua River, which drains Teslin Lake, the largest body of
water in the Yukon basin. This river has long been a locality
of great interest to prospectors because of the wide distribution
of gold in its bars and tributaries. The metal is found every-
where on the whole length of the stream, but seems rather elu-
sive when it comes to the test of actual mining. It has been
prospected and worked sporadically for fifteen years, and in all
that time the only Hootalinqua gold of any consequence taken
out was found on Lewis River, a few miles below the mouth of
the former stream, at Sassiar bar, where something like ;^i 50,000
was mined. It is deserted now for the better mines of the
Alaskan side.

Five-Finger Rapids is one of the two or three obstructions
that interfere with the free navigation of the river. A ledge of
rock lies directly across the stream with four or five openings in
it that afford a scanty outlet for the congested current. The
largest passage and the one commonly used is the one at the
10

146 HOW TO GET THERE.

right shore. There is a considerable fall, but the water is not
badly broken, the gateway being succeeded by several big waves,
over which a boat glides with great rapidity, but with a smooth
and even motion. Shooting this rapid is an exhilerating expe-
rience, but with careful management is not considered dangerous.

A few miles above Five- Finger Rapids is George Mc-
Cormick's old Indian trading-post. This is now abandoned by
the " venerable" George ; he was the first man on the Klondike.
A mile or so beyond McCormick's trading-post, (which by the
way is very poorly stocked with anything, except Indian trad-
ing articles), on the right-hand side of the river, before turning
to the Five-Finger Rapids, you see evidence of McCormick's
shrewdness and enterprise. He has drifted a hole in the side of
the mountain, and when prospectors last passed this point he
was taking out good specimens of coal.

Next below Five-Finger Rapids are the Rink Rapids, so
named by Lieutenant Schwatka, because of their musical
rhythm. To run the Rink is mere child's play.

And now all the danger points in the Chilkoot Pass route
are passed. It is clear sailing to Dawson City.

Past Fort Selkirk.

The first trading-post and settlement of white men to be
encountered on the river is at Fort Selkirk, opposite the mouth
of Pelly River. Thence, it is a little more than a day's run
down to Sixty-Mile, and it takes less than a day to go from
Sixty- Mile to Dawson City.

Dr. Crewe says of Pelly River :

" We will just run across the river and see how old man
Harper is getting along at Fort Selkirk. He has been in the
Yukon Valley, trading first with the Indians and then with the
white men, ever since the Alaska Commercial Company estal>

HOW TO GET THERE. 147

lished trading-posts along the river. Before this time, I believe
he was employed by the Hudson Bay Company as a post-trader
at one of the northern stations. Wishing good-bye to our
Selkirk friends, a quick uneventful run of 120 miles brings us
to Stewart River. Gold was first discovered in the Yukon
Valley on this river. The prospects for the future of Stewart
River are as bright and hopeful as for any of the creeks that
are known to contain gold."

Colorado Miner's View^.

The words of a Colorado miner, who went in by the Chil-
koot Pass in the early summer and wrote back of his experi-
ences, are worth reading as a practical man's summing up of the
case. He says :

" I think that the difficulties and dangers of the Yukon trip
have been much exaggerated. The cold up there is intense, but
is dry and a man does not suffer from it as would be supposed.
I spent one winter on the Yukon. The thermometer went down
to seventy-five degrees below zero, but the coldest day I ever
saw in my life was in Chicago last January.

" The Chilkoot Pass is only 3000 feet high, and that isn't any
height at all to a man used to mountains. With a good sleeping
bag a man may sleep out of doors there all of the winter. In
the interior there is very little snow. I did not find it over six
inches deep. In the dark part of the year there is almost always
enough of twilight to see by.

" Of course, a man who would kick about a crumpled rose
leaf on his couch would have a hard time in Alaska, but a man
who is a man could get along all right up there."

A company has been formed in Chicago which proposes to
build four or six small steamers of light draft which will be
launched in Lake Linderman, and will run in the chain of lakes,

148 HOW TO GET THERE.

the Lewis River and the upper Yukon River. The same com-
pany will build tramways, after the pattern of those in use by the
Hudson Bay Company over the old route from the North, to
overcome the difficulty of transportation at portage points.

The boats will go to their destination in parts, and will be put
together on the waters of Lake Linderman. They will be pro-
vided with all the comforts that make steamboat traveling enjoy-
able, and will be of sufficent tonnage to carry a considerable
amount of freight on each trip.

With the proposed wagon road that the Dominion Government
and the Canadian Pacific Railway are figuring on, it is thought
there will be little trouble in reaching the gold fields, and those
who are caught on the Klondike when the lakes and rivers are
frozen over can get out by way of the northern route, which is
through Edmonton.

Over Chilkat Pass.

The Chilkat trail leads over the Chilkat Pass and is about
125 miles in length from the head of Chilkat Inlet to where it
strikes the waters of Tahkeena River. This was the old trail
used by the Indians to and from the interior, and leads all the
way through to old Fort Selkirk by land. ''Jack " Dalton has
dsed this trail at times in taking horses and live stock to the
mines, portaging to the Tahkeena, then by raft down that river
to the Lewis, thus proving that the Tahkeena is navigable for a
small stern wheel steamer for a distance of some seventy miles.

For the last three years several California and English com-
panies have been studying the lay of the land between Chilkat
and Circle City, with a view to establishing a quicker and more
practicable way of transportation to the rich gold fields along the
Yukon. Goodall, Perkins & Co. have made a thorough investi-
gation of the matter. Captain Charles M. Goodall said :

HOW TO GET THERE. 149

" The rich find in the Klondike district will probably result in
some better means of transportation, though the roughness of
the country and the limited open season will not justify anybody
in building a railroad for any distance. Recently we sent several
hundred sheep and cattle to Juneau, and from there to the head
of navigation by the steamer Alki. Dalton, the man who dis-
covered the trail across the country from Chilkat River to Fort
Selkirk, is taking the live stock to the mines. His route lies
from the head of navigation through Chilkat Pass and across a
route which is over a prairie several miles to the Yukon River,
near Fort Selkirk. At this time of year the prairie is clear, and
bunch grass grows on it in abundance.

" I believe this will ultimately be the popular route. People
could go over it in wagons, as the prairie is level and the roads
good. Stations could be established, as was done on the plains
in 1 849. It would be easy to go down the river in boats from
where Dalton's trail strikes it to Dawson City and the other
mining camps.

" The plan to build a traction road over Chilkat Pass from Dy^a,
the head of navigation after leaving Juneau, to Lake Linder-
man, is not a good business proposition. It has been talked of
and the rest of the plan is to have steamers to ply from Lake
Linderman through the other lakes to the Yukon. But to do
this two portages would have to be made on account of the falls
in the river, and these would be enormously expensive."

By the White Pass.

The White Pass is considered by many one of the best that
cuts the mountains of the coast. It is at least 1000 feet lower
than the Chilkoot and little higher than the Taku. It is reported
timbered the entire length. Its salt water terminus is about
eighty-five miles north of Juneau, and ocean steamers can run

150 HOW TO GET THERE.

up to the landing at all times, where there is a good town
site, well protected from storms. The pass lies through a box
cafion surrounded by high granite peaks and is comparatively
easy. The first seven miles from salt water lie up the bottom
lands of the Skagway River through heavy timber. Then
for about seven miles farther the way is over piles of boulders
and moraines which would prove the most expensive part of the
trail. This trail would not exceed thirty-two miles in length,
and would strike Windy Arm of. Tagish Lake or Taku Arm
coming in farther up the lake. All of this part of the lake is
well timbered and accessible to Lake Bennett and its connec-
tions. White Pass could be used as a mail route any month in
the year.

Trail Open July i6th.

The Alaska Searchlight publishes a letter from William Moore,
at Fourteen-Mile Camp, Skagway, Alaska, stating that the White
Pass pack trail to the summit of the pass was opened for travel
July 1 6th. On reaching the summit the traveler steps upon al-
most level country, the grade to the lakes being twenty feet to
the mile. The distance from salt water to the Too-Chi Lake is
thirty miles, and from salt water to the head of Lake Bennett,
the distance is forty- five miles. Both routes from the summit
are through rolling country, for the most part open, with plenty
of grass for feeding stock, water and sufficient timber for all pur-
poses. From salt water to the summit, stock and pack horses
can be driven through easily.

C. H. Wilkinson, on behalf of the British- Yukon Company,
has made an offer to the Minister of the Interior to build a wagon
road through the White Pass for ;^2000 a mile. The distance is
about fifty miles. About eight miles of the road would be very
difficult to build. It would take ;^7000 a mile, being all rock
excavation, to construct this eight miles.

HOW TO GET THERE. 151

At the rate the people are flocking into the new gold region
of the Yukon country, something will have to be done soon to
provide a way of getting provisions into the mining district.

If this road were built Victoria could be reached from the
Yukon district in about fourteen days. The Minister has taken
the matter into consideration.

Mr. Wilkinson is also authority for the statement that the
company has completed arrangements for placing a fleet of be-
tween ten and twenty steamers on the Yukon River in the spring,
and will probably make an effort in the direction of a narrow
guage railway over the pass.

Survey for Railroad.

George W. Garside, a well-known engineer, formerly in the
employ of the Canadian Government, has recently completed the
survey of sixty-two miles of railway running from Skagway Bay
over the White Pass to Lake Tagish, and thence to the upper
Hootalinqua River. He is employed by the British-American
Transportation Company, said to be amply supplied with funds
with which to complete the undertaking. It is said work will
begin in the spring of 1898. The new route will be 100 miles
longer than that at present followed by miners going into the
Yukon basin overland from Dyea.

The route surveyed leaves tide water at Skagway Bay, close to
Dyea, and runs in a northerly direction over the summit by
White's Pass, through which a trail has just been completed.
The new trail is locx) feet lower than Chilkat Pass, at which so
much hardship is encountered by prospectors. The route will
eliminate all the danger of the White Horse Rapids and Miles
Cafion, where now portages of from one to three miles are made,
and where so many gold hunters have lost their all, in having-
their supplies turned out of the boat into the water by the bowlders

152 HOW TO GET THERE.

The report of the engineers on the project has been hied.
it endorses the plan as practical but costly. Skagway Bay has
a fine natural harbor, and is good anchorage for vessels of any
size. From the harbor the proposed railroad will follow the
Skagway Ri\er to its head, which is near the summit of the pass.

The grade is variable. The first four miles the ascent is
gradual. The next seven miles of the route is difficult and even
dangerous. In three more miles of easier grade the summit is
reached. The descent to Tagish. Lake, about twenty miles, is
gradual and the total fall less than 400 feet. The surface of the
lake is 2200 feet above the sea.

Route by Taku Pass.

A new route to the Klondike (and it must not be forgotten
that " Klondike," as a destination, means anywhere in the great
gold-lined Yukon Basin) has been proposed by Mrs. Frederick
Schwatka, the widow of the great Northwestern Pathfinder. It
is by way of the Taku Inlet, River and Pass. Lieutenant
Schwatka discovered the pass and tried it.

According to Mrs. Schwatka, who has spent much of her
time in Alaska and who is familiar with a large part of the
country, the Taku Pass will prove to be a bonanza to the first
trading company that establishes a system of pack trains through
it to Juneau, the base of supplies for the mining region. It is
besides the easiest route for the miners themselves and a shal-
low-draft steamer that could be brought to run on Taku River
would leave only ninety miles of land to be crossed.

Mrs. Schwatka spoke of the Taku route in these words :

" Lieutenant Schwatka explored the Taku River and Pass
several years ago. He tried to get the people of Juneau to es-
tablish a pack train line through the pass, to connect with a
steamboat on the inlet. That was before there was much travel

HOW TO GET THERE. 153

to Juneau, and the people of the thriving village did not believe
it would pay them. Now it certainly would, but I have not seen
a word about the pass in any of the newspapers, and there ap-
pears to be almost no travel through it.

" In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it
would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road.
The current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods,
but a light draught steamer would have no difficulty in ascending
it and making connections with the road to Juneau. It would
be an easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The
Canadian Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it
could profitably build a line through the pass and connect the
two branches by steamer.

" Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which I
think I shall have published. He made the trip up the river by
canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I
am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going
from Juneau, however.

** From Taku to Lake Teslin it is ninety miles over level
prairies, and the country from Lake Teslin is an open valley.
With the aid of pack horses the Taku route is by far preferable."

Details of the Route.

The Taku Pass route may be briefly described as beginning at
Juneau, thence up the Taku River to its end, where the portage
of ninety miles is made by pack to the Teslin or Aklene Lake,
the route through which is northwesterly. Arriving at the
farther end of the last mentioned waterway the trip is by heavy
canoes along the Hootalinqua or Teslin River to Lewis River,
which joins the Yukon at Fort Selkirk. From the latter place
Dawson City and other mining places are reached by the
Yukon.

154

HOW TO GET THERE.

William A. Pratt, professor of electrical engineering at Dela-
ware College, and P. I. Packard, of Wilmington, Del., are at the
head of a party enroute to survey a line for a railroad to be
built by an Eastern syndicate through Taku Pass to Lake
Teslin.

Another route, whose promoters say is the best highway to

SCENE IN ALASKA NEAR THE COAST.

the gold fields from the coast yet discovered, is by way of the
Lake Teslin, or Aklena Lake trail, and starts in American terri-
tory at Fort Wrangel. It leads up the Stickinc River and Tele-
graph Creek from Wrangel to Glenora, a distance of 1 26 miles.
The Stickine is navigable for stern-wheel steamers of four or

HOW TO GET THERE. 155

five feet draught, and it is believed the channel of Telegraph
Creek can easily be made ample for the same boats all the way
to Glenora. The provincial government is at work improving
the route.

The only point of peril in the water part of this route will be
in the rapids in the Stickine River, but the trouble here is
handily overcome at present by making fast heavy lines to trees
on the banks and warping the boat up or down the dangerous
passages.

From Glenora the route will traverse a newly-discovered pass
and then straight across the smooth table land to Lake T'^^lin.
Thence it is plain sailing down the Hootalinqua River, a tribu-
tary of the Lewis, by the Lewis to Fort Selkirk and thence on
the broad Yukon to Dawson City.

Five-Finger Rapids.

The only danger on this part of the route is the Five-Finger
Rapids, where so many prospectors and so much property have
been lost. The Canadian Government will appropriate a sum
of money to blow out the dangerous rocks at this point and
clear the river of dangerous obstructions. This route avoids
White Horse Rapids and Miles Canon, the most dangerous spots
in the river routes. The total distance to Dawson City via
Telegraph Creek will be approximately 1780 miles.

John C. Galbreath, for many years a resident of Telegraph
Creek, has been directed by the British Columbia government to
open this new route and ^^2000 will be expended on it immediately.
Even now the trip to the gold fields, it is said, can be made with
less danger and more quickly by this route than by any other.
It is open usually until the middle of October and sometimes as
late as November.

It is also proposed to build a branch from Telegraph Creek to

156 HOW TO GET THERE.

Dease Lake, which connects with the upper waters of the Mac-
kenzie River.

The "back door" route, or " inside track " from civilization to
the Klondike diggings, is the old Hudson Bay Company's " trunk
line," and has been in use nearly a century. It is said to possess
many advantages, except perhaps in the matter of distance, over
any of the other land and water trails.

Argonauts going in at the " back door " will go to Edmonton,
in Alberta, 1772 miles from Chicago, via the Canadian Pacific
Railroad, and thence by stage or wagon to Athabasca Landing.
Edmonton is on the Saskatchewan River and the portage to the
landing places the traveler on the banks of the great Athabasca
River and at the head of a continuous waterway for canoe travel
to Fort Macpherson, at the north mouth of the Mackenzie River,
from which point the Peel River lies south to the gold regions.
From Edmonton to Fort Macpherson is 1882 miles.

Only Two Big Portages.

There are only two portages of any size on the route — that
from Edmonton to Athabasca Landing, over which there is a
stage and wagon line, and at Smith Landing, sixteen miles, over
which the Hudson Bay Company has a tramway. With the
exception of five other portages of a few hundred yards there is
a fine down-grade water route all the way. Wherever there is
a lake or long stretch of deep water navigation, the Hudson Bay
Company has small freight steamers which ply during the sum-
mer months between the portage points.

From Edmonton a party of three men with a canoe should
reach Fort Macpherson within sixty days, provided they are
strong and of some experience in that sort of travel.

Experienced travelers recommend that the canoe be bought at
home unless it is intended to hire Indians with large bark canoes

HOW TO GET THERE. 157

for the trip. Birch-bark canoes can be purchased large enough
to carry three tons, but are said to be unreliable unless Indians
are taken along to doctor them and keep them from getting
water-logged. The Hudson Bay Company will contract to take
freight northward on their steamers until the close of navigation.
A recent letter from a missionary says the ice had only com-
menced to run on September 30, 1896, in the Peel River, the
waterway from Fort Macpherson to the gold fields. If winter
comes on the traveler can change his canoe for sleds and dog

trains.

Advantages to Travelers.

The great advantage claimed for the " back door " route is
that it is an organized line of communication. Travelers need
not carry any more food than will take them from one Hudson
Bay post to the next, and there is abundance of fish and wild
fowl along the route. They can also get assistance at the posts
in case of sickness or accident.

If lucky enough to make their " pile " in the Klondike, they
can come back by the dog-sled route in the winter. There is
one mail to Fort Macpherson in the winter. Dogs for teams
can be bought at any of the Hudson Bay posts, which form a
chain of roadhouses on the trip.

Parties traveling alone will need no guides until they get near
Fort Macpherson, the route from Edmonton being so well defined.

It is estimated that a party of three could provide themselves
with food for the canoe trip of two months for thirty-five dollars.
Pork, tea, flour and baking powder would suffice.

Parties should consist of three men, as that is the crew of a
canoe. It will take 600 pounds of food to carry three men over
the route. The paddling is all done down stream except when
they turn south up Peel River, and sails should be taken, as there
is often a favorable wind for days. There are large scows on the

158 HOW TO GET THERE.

line manned by ten men each, and known as '* sturgeon heads."
They are like canal boats, but are punted along, and are used by
the Hudson Bay people for taking supplies to the forts.

It is estimated ;^200 per man will be sufficient for expenses
via this route, and that two months, and possibly six weeks, will
be an ample estimate of time.

Another all-Canadian route to the Klondike is proposed, to
enable Eastern Canada to compete in transportation, traffic and
trade with the Pacific coast. It includes a railway to Moose
Factory, at the foot of James Bay, and a line of steamers thence
to the western end of Chesterfield Inlet, a distance of 1 300 miles.
The rest of the journey would be mainly by the Mackenzie and
Yukon rivers, and it is estimated that in summer it could be
made in seven days from Toronto. Between Hudson Bay and
the Yukon it is believed the only piece of railway it will be neces-
sary to construct is 200 miles or so between the head of Chester-
field Inlet and Great Slave Lake.

Offers Fine Steamers.

The late managing owner of a line of steamers on the great
lakes has examined the reports as to the waterways through
Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie and Yukon rivers, and
offers to undertake to equip the route with a new style of steam-
ers, which, while spacious and economical, would develop a
reliable speed of twenty miles an hour in slack water. A model
of an ice boat has been prepared for winter navigation of these
waters.

The plan for reaching Hudson Bay is the construction of a
railway from Missanabie to Moose Factory, to be operated by
electricity furnished by the water power of the Moose River.

The proposed route to Hudson Bay is disputed by Quebec,
which is desirous of securing the western connection for itself,

HOW TO GET THERE. 159

and having already constructed a railway to Lake St. John, to
within 300 miles of James Bay, is ready, with a certain amount
of Government aid, to extend it to Moose Factory by way of
the valley of the Ashuamouchouan River.

J. M. C. Lewis, a civil engineer, has proposed to the Interior
Department, at Washington, a route from the mouth of the
Copper River, by which he says the Klondike may be reached
by a journey of a little over 300 miles from the coast, a great
saving in distance over the other mountain routes. He says the
trail could be opened at small expense.

The route which he proposes will start inland from the mouth
of the Copper River, near the Miles Glacier, twenty-five miles
east of the entrance to Prince William Sound. He says the
Copper River is navigable for small steamers for many miles
beyond the mouth of its principal eastern tributary, called on
the latest maps the Chillyna River, which is itself navigable for
a considerable distance. From the head of navigation on the
Chillyna, Mr. Lewis says, either a highway or a railroad could
be constructed without great difficulty or very heavy grades,
through what the natives call the " low pass," probably the
Scoloi Pass. From the pass the road would follow the valley of
the White River to the point where it empties into the Yukon,
on the edge of the Klondike gold fields.

"Uncle Sam's" Survey.

" Uncle Sam " has had his eye on short routes to Alaska for
sometime. In 1886 a bill was introduced in Congress " to facili-
tate the settlement and develop the resources of the Territory
of Alaska and to open an overland commercial route, between
the United States, Asiatic Russia and Japan."

The Interior Department referred the subject to Director
Powell of the Geological Survey for a report, which was made

160 HOW TO GET THERE.

as comprehensive as the knowledge possessed by the survey of
the topography of the country, through which the road would
have to pass, would permit.

In the beginning of his report Director Powell says :

" Information on record bearing on the question does not indi-
cate any greater obstacles to the construction of such a line
than those already overcome in trans-continental railroad build-
ing, and the construction of the proposed line must be pro-
nounced feasible.

" From the geographic knowledge available a tentative line
may be indicated extending from the Northern Pacific Railroad
in Montana northward to Behring Sea, about 2800 miles in
length."

This tentative line, divided into three grand divisions, is as
follows :

1. From some point on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Mon-
tana to the headwaters of the Peace River.

2. From the headwaters of the Peace River to the headwaters
of the Yukon.

3. From the headwaters of the Yukon to some point on the
shore of Behring Sea.

Straight to Klondike.

It will be observed that the proposed route would take the
road right through the Klondike gold field.

From Montana northward through British Columbia as far
as the Peace River, Director Powell considered two routes, which
he calls plains and valleys, respectively, their names indicating
their character. His preference was for the valley route.

First, it would have a decided advantage in distance.

Second, it would afford easier grades. He admitted the pros-
pect for local business over the two routes appeared to be in

HOW TO GET THERE. 161

favor of the plains route, " unless important mining districts
should be developed on the other line."

From the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Canadian Pacific
Railroad by the valley route is about 325 miles, and to connect
Southern Alaska indirectly with the railway system of the United
States via the Canadian Pacific Railroad would require the con-
struction of only 840 miles of line, which is exactly the distance
from Baltimore to Chicago by the Pennsylvania line.

One of the most perplexing problems of transportation to
which the gold craze gave rise, in the first months of the epidemic,
was to find steamers for the sea voyage either to Juneau or St.
Michael's. The regular transportation companies used all their
own boats and all that they could hire, and even then were unable
to accommodate all who wanted passage, and private enterprise
undertook the hazardous trips in almost any old tub that would
float long enough to get out of the harbor.

The experiences of the season, however, and the demand for
passage on the first boats to go North in 1898, which set in as
early as the first week in August, set the steamship men hustling
to be ready for the expected rush in the spring.

More Steamers Next Spring.

Manager C. H. Hamilton, of the North American Transporta-
tion and Trading Company, announce that his company has let
a contract to Cramps, the Philadelphia shipbuilders, for the con-
struction of two 2000-ton steel steamers. They will be the finest
steamers on the Pacific coast, and will be used exclusively on the
Seattle-St. Michael's run. They will have accommodations for
200 first-class and 500 second-class passengers.

The American Steel Barge Company, of West Superior, Wis-
consin, arranged with a syndicate interested in the Alaskan gold
fields to construct several small vessels on the whaleback plan to
11

162 HOW TO GET THERE.

navigate the Yukon. Arrangements are being made to open the
shipyards of the company at Everett, Washington, and the plant
at West Superior may be used to get out some of these little
ships.

The whaleback steamer Everett^ which carried the American
contributions to the East Indian famine, one of the largest whale-
back freighters afloat, will be remodeled to accommodate pas-
sengers and put on the San Francisco-Alaska route, making
regular trips to the Yukon with gold-seekers who prefer the
water route to the diggings.

Expert River Men.

In preparation for the spring rush up the Yukon River, and
over the divide with supplies, a Canadian firm has been hiring
lumbermen and river men from the Ottawa region. There is
every indication that by the opening of navigation on the upper
Yukon there will be abundant work for expert river men in
transporting supplies to the Klondike.

A Seattle company has been organized to build a sea-going
steamship, and also a light draft steamer for the river business
between St. Michael's and Dawson City.

The Puget Sound Tugboat Company will put a steamer on
the Yukon in the spring to carry freight and passengers from
St. Michael's to the Klondike.

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company is arranging to use all
its available boats on the northern route to Juneau in 1898, and
may decide to make several additions to its fleet.

Both the North American and Alaska companies are adding
to their facilities for taking care of traffic in the spring and
expect to be fully equipped for the great rush of gold-hunters
and supplies when the time comes. The North American has
ordered several new ocean and river steamers.

HOW TO GET THERE. 163

Steamboat men in Seattle estimate that, beginning about the
first of April, a large steamer can leave Puget's Sound'for Alaska
daily with all the passenger and freight accommodations crowded.

Several new steamer companies are already in the field and
the promise has been made that next season will see a reduction
in the rate of fare. But unless the reports received from the
gold fields during the winter indicate that the richness of the
placers has been exaggerated and that they give signs of peter-
ing out, the rush to the mines in the spring will surpass anything
the world has ever seen.

Transportation companies assert that those who are waiting
until spring to go North will be very much disappointed if they
expect a reduction in fares. That some companies will be organ-
ized to make trips at reduced rates there is no doubt, but the
regular steamship lines say the fare will be the same.

Secretary Hamilton, of the North American Transportation and
Trading Company, spoke of the fares in the spring as follows :

'* In my opinion the fare to St. Michael's will not be less than
;g200 in the spring. Transportation facilities will be improved,
but fares will not be less."

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company officials were equally
sure the fares would stay up.

Will Pay To Come Back.

The companies generally assert that in the early spring they
will be carrying to the sound hundreds of passengers who have
wintered in the vicinity of Dawson City. All will have money
and will be in a position to pay the present fares, which
are considered reasonable. The majority of the miners who
stay during the coming winter will undoubtedly come out by
way of St. Michael's. They will not care to undergo the hard-
ships of the trip over the pass.

164 HOW TO GET THERE.

The first ship from New York to Juneau with gold-hunters
and supplies sailed late in August, going around the Horn.
The fare to Juneau was $17 S- Several other sailing vessels are
expected to leave New York for Juneau with miners during the
winter.

A great demand for small boats arose on the Pacific Coast be-
fore the season closed, the argonauts thinking to save time on
the overland journey by taking their boats with them. Several
styles of boats that could be shipped "knocked down" at once
came to the front, and several firms began making specialties of
these handy craft. One that will carry a ton costs about ;^i8,
and weighs about 200 pounds. It is taken apart with no pieces
more than six or seven feet long and packed for shipping. The
principal objection to these boats is that the Indians and packers
disHke to contract to carry them over the mountains on account
of their awkward shape. One builder has worked out a model
for a galvanized iron boat that can be carried in sections fitting
together like a "nest" of custard dishes, and can be put to-
gether with small bolts. A canvas folding boat that \Aould
carry two tons would be available on the Yukon. A keel, mast
and some additional bracing could be added after reaching the

interior.

Wagon Road to Yukon.

The Canadian Pacific Railway and Dominion Government are
conferring with a view to opening up a wagon road to the Yukon
from Edmonton. Such a road is feasible, and would be only
between 800 and 900 miles long, passing through a rich aurifer-
ous country. The object is to give a short and safe road for
prospectors and to make it possible to maintain winter commu-
nication.

A joint resolution was reported favorably for the United States
Senate Committee on Territories on July 2 2d, authorizing the

HOW TO GET THERE. 165

construction oi toll roads in Alaska. The resolution authorizes
the Secretary of the Interior to grant right of way 200 feet wide.
Franchises are to be limited to twenty years. The rates of toll
are to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

One of the features of the stampede to Klondike via Dyea
has been the number of burros, cayuses, mules and horses taken
up to sepve for packing over the Chilkoot, Chilkat and White
Passes! Hundreds have been sent through, and their owners in
many cases had contracts in their pockets for all the freight they
could expect to handle at from thirteen to nineteen cents a pound.
Old mountaineers, however, think the horses, and especially the
mules, will prove a failure as a venture, for their hoofs will cut
up the road, which has been barely good enough for human feet,
so far, and this, in such a moist climate as that of autumn in
Southeastern Alaska, will soon make the trails impassable for
beast or even, perhaps, for man.

There are a few horses in the Yukon country, and one of the
largest pack trains ever brought into Dawson City, Robert
Krook, of Dawson City, says, was brought over the frozen
river Yukon by thirteen horses and as many sleds all the way
from Circle City. Feed, however, is expensive, and the horses
are easily rendered useless. If water gets on the top of the ice
and the horses or mules get wet feet, they are practically ruined
for all time, as their hoofs split when the water freezes, crippling
the animals. To avoid this, moccasins are used and have proved
partially successful.

Dogs for Burdens.

Dogs are the choice beasts of burden on the overland routes
during the long frozen season, and their points of merit have
been recognized by a decided stiffening of prices in the canine
market. Good dogs, are worth from |lioo up, ;^200 for a fine
brute not being an unusual price. There is not much danger of

im HQW TO GET THERE.

the supply running far behind the demand, however, even at
Dyea, for if there is anything Alaska is "long" on besides
winters and mosquitos, it is dogs.

Robert Krook says that Eskimo dogs will draw 200 pounds
each on a sled, so that six dogs will draw a year's supplies for
one man. He, however, puts in the proviso that the sleds
should not have iron runners, because the snow sticks to the
iron and increases the friction so much that the dogs cannot haul
more than 100 pounds apiece. With brass runners this draw-
back is obviated.

Moccasins on Dogs.

; Sometimes the feet of the dogs get sore, and then the Indians
fit moccasins dn them ; as soon, however, as the tenderness is
gone froi3i>their feet the dogs will bite and tear the moccasins
off. In speaking of the dogs, Mr. Krook said that they need
no lines to guide them, and arc very intelligent, learning readily
to obey a command to turn in any direction or to stop. They
have to be watched closely, as they will attack and devour stores
left in their way, especially bacon, which must be hung up out
of- their reach. At night, when camp is pitched the moment a
blanket is thrown upon the ground they will -run into it and
curl up, neither cuffs nor kicks sufficing to budge them.' They
lie as close up to the men who own them as possible, and the
miner cannot wrap himself up so close that they won't get under
his blanket with him. They are almost human, too, in their
disinclinations to get out in the morning.

Where sleds cannot be used the dogs will carry fifty pounds
apiece in saddlebags slung across their backs pannier fashion.
Nature has fitted these dogs for theii work, and so mastiffs and
St. Bernards are not as serviceable. The two latter breeds can-
not stand the intense cold so well, and, though at first they will
draw, the sleds cheerfully, their feet cannot resist the strain and

167

168 HOW TO GET THERE.

begin to bleed so freely that the dogs are useless. The pads
under the feet of the Eskimo dogs are of tougher skin.

Reindeer are to be entered as rivals of the Esquimo dogs.
Twenty sturdy bucks have been selected from the United States
Government's reindeer herd at Teller's Station and will be taken
to Circle City. The design is to materially decrease the cost of
overland transportation in winter, for the benefit of the miner.

Much care has been exercised in the selection of the herd,
and not one of its members is less than four and one-half feet
in height and seven feet in length. The minimum weight of
these bucks is 250 pounds, but some of them are twenty-five to
fifty pounds heavier than the lightest. All are vigorous, healthy
and in good working condition. Their antlers, which curve
gracefully backward, are about two and one-half feet in length.
Their general color is a soft seal brown, shading into black on
the legs, which are covered with short, glossy hair, to which the
snow does not adhere.

A prime advantage of the reindeer over the dog is the fact

that he paws away the snow and secures his own food, instead

of having to add his rations to the weight of his burden. Many

a pioneer prospector, traveling by dog team, has been placed in

a position in which his dogs have become useless from lack of

provisions. Had these unfortunate pilgrims been provided with

reindeer teams, such an emergency would not, in all probability,

have arisen ; and in case of threatened starvation the traveler's

means of transportation would have furnished him with a liberal

quantity of meat.

Bicycles for Yukon.

One of the most novel and absurd of all the schemes of trans-
portation fostered by the stampede to the Yukon diggings is the
Klondike bicycle, theoretically adapted to carry one man and $00
pounds of outfit, but practically useless because there is not a

HOW TO GET THERE. 169

piece of the wheelmen's '*good roads" in the territory. Yet
some " tenderfeet " have been seen in Seattle armed and equipped
with just that thing. But it is to be hoped they were not typical
" tenderfeet."

The Klondike is promised close communication with the world
in a short time. The Alaska Telegraph and Telephone Company
has been incorporated in San Francisco to construct a telegraph
line from Juneau and Dyea to Dawson and Circle City. Th2
capital stock is ;^ 100,000. The work of construction is to be
pushed and it is hoped the line will be in working order before
winter. The estimated length is 10,000 miles.

The line will be a novelty, as no poles will be used except in
crossing cafions and rivers. The wire, which will be of large
guage, pure copper, will be heavily coated with insulating sub-
stance and will be laid along the ground. Stations will be estab-
lished at every fifty miles. It is thought that this line will answer
perfectly for the present.

How it will be Built.

D. E. Bohannon, the chief of construction of the line, ex-
plained its details as follows :

" Our method is very simple. The line is to be constructed
on the same plans as the ordinary military line used by armies
for war purposes. We have a wire a quarter of an inch thick
and covered with kerite insulation, which has proved able to
stand the rigorous climatic conditions prevailing in Alaska.

*' The wire is wound upon large reels, the same as an ordinary
telegraph wire, and these coils are to be placed on dog sleds and
dragged over the ice and snow. As we go along the reels will
simply pay out the loose wire and run it along the ground, and
thus our line will be through in something like six weeks, the
time consumed in the ordinary tramp over the country."

170 HOW TO GET THERE.

The Dominon Government has made application to the United
States Government to be permitted to build a telegraph line from
a navigable point on Linn Canal, Alaska, to Tagish, across the
summit, a distance of nearly loo miles, so that communication
may be had with the interior of the Yukon all the year around.
It is said that the application will raise a new question only compar-
able to that which was involved in the establishment of the
mixed mail route in Alaska, which gave rise to so much talk.

The Klondike will not be so badly off for mails this winter.
The monthly letter mail which was started by the United States
Government the first of July, 1 897, will be continued, and there
will be one round trip a month to Circle City until July i, 1898.
The Canadian Government has also arranged for po«ital service
to Dawson City.

The scheme of the United States postal service is interesting.
Between Seattle and Sitka the mail steamers ply regularly.
Between Sitka and Juneau there is a closed pouch steamboat
service. Seattle makes up closed pouches for Douglas, Fort
Wrangel, Juneau, Killisnoo, Ketchikan, Mary Island, 8itka and
Metlakatlah.

Service from Sitka.

Connecting at Sitka is another sea service between that point
and Unalaska, 1400 miles to the west. This service consists of
one trip a month between Sitka and Unalaska from April to
October and leaves Sitka immediately upon arrival of the
mails from Seattle. Captain J. E. Hanson is acting clerk. From
Unalaska the mails are dispatched to St. Michael's and thence tc
points on the Yukon.

The Postoffice Department has perfected not only a summer
but a winter star route service between Juneau and Circle City
The route is overland and by boats and rafts over the lakes and
down the Yukon, and is 900 miles long. A Chicago ma»

HOW TO GET THERE.

171

named Beddoe carries the summer mail, making five trips
between June and November, and is paid ;^500 a trip. Two
Juneau men, Frank Corwin and Albert Hayes, operate the
winter service, and draw for each round trip i^i/OO in gold.
About 1 200 letters are carried on each trip.

l\)Ki;>r SCENE NEAR -SITKA.

The Canadian mail to Dawson City will be carried by the
mounted police from Dj^ea to Skagway.

In the expectation that the boom in Alaskan and North
British mining stocks will be one of the wildest in the history of

172 HOW TO GET THERE.

the world, and that the stock exchanges of London, New York,
Chicago and San Francisco will be willing to pay handsomely
for inside and speedy news from the centre of excitement on the
Klondike, some capitalists have conceived the idea of establish-
ing a carrier-pigeon service between Seattle or Victoria and
Dawson and Circle Cities, with Juneau as the "way station " in
the flight. The experience of Nansen, the Arctic explorer, with
carrier pigeons in the ice fields surrounding the North Pole, has
demonstrated the practicability of using these birds in Alaska
during the coldest months.

Plan of the Service.

The idea is to transfer a number of " breeders " to Victoria,
the nearest telegraphic station to the Klondike district, and also
a number of them to Juneau and Dawson City, in the heart of
the new Eldorado. It is believed that after the birds shall have
been properly trained by frequent flights over the country
between Dawson City and Juneau, they will be able to cover
that extent of territory in about twenty-four hours. The birds,
whose home cotes are located in Victoria, it is believed, can
reach that place in less than thirty hours after being released at
Juneau, a trip that is seldom made in less than three or four
days by steamboat, although on one occasion it was made from
Sitka in forty -nine hours. With such a line of communication
opened up it ought to be possible for a message written in the
frozen interior of Alaska to reach the most distant parts of the
world within a few days.

A carrier pigeon, which was taken from Portland, Ore., on
the steamer Elder, to Dyea, returned to Portland on August 9th
with the following message :

" Dyea, Aug. 7th. Arrived safely here last night. All well
on board. T. Cain."

HOW TO GET THERE. 17S

In preparing to make the long overland journey into the
Klondike, one of the things of most importance to be considered
and one in which the " tenderfoot " left to himself, is most apt to
make a serious blunder of omission, is the "outfit."

There are all sorts of tastes and so there are all sorts of out-
fits, but the following table, prepared by a man of ample experi-
ence and good appetite, will serve as a sample for preparing a
list of the articles necessary for a complete outfit for a year in
the Klondike diggings :

CLOTHING : — 3 suits heavy woolen underwear, 6 pairs heavy woolen
stockings, 2 pairs blanket-lined mittens, i heavy Mackinaw coat, 2 pairs
Mackinaw trousers, 2 dark woolen overshirts, i heavy sweater, i heavy
rubber-lined top coat, 2 pairs heavy hip rubber boots, 2 pairs shoes, 1
Canadian toque, 2 pairs extra heavy blankets, i suit oil skins, 2 pairs
heavy overalls, i suit buckskin underwear, towels, needles, thread, wax,
buttons.

FOOD : — 350 pounds flour, 200 pounds bacon, 150 pounds beans, 10
pounds tea, 75 pounds coffee (browned), 5 pounds baking powder, 25
pounds salt, 150 pounds assorted dried fruits, 100 pounds evaporated vege-
tables and dried meats, 10 pounds soap, 3 tins matches, 5 pounds sac-
charine, citric acid.

HARDWARE:— I long-handled shovel, I pick, i ax, duplicate handles,
5 pounds wire nails, 5 pounds pitch, 3 pounds oakum, 2 large files, hammer,
jackplanc, brace and bits, large whipsaw, hand saw, 150 feet )^-inch rope,
drawknife, chisel, jackknife, whetstone, hand ax, shaving outfit, frying pan,
kettle, Yukon stove, bean pot, two plates, cup, teapot, knife, fork and six
spoons, 2 buckets, 2 miners' gold pans.

ARMAMENT : — Repeating rifle, 40-82, reloading tools and 100 rounds
brass shell cartridges, i large hunting knife, fishing tackle, snow spectacles.

CAMPING OUTFIT : — Heavy canvas tent, 8x10, pegs and guy ropes,
I heavy-lined canvas sleeping-bag, rubber blanket, mosquito netting.

These supplies will weigh about 1350 pounds and will cost
about ;^22 5 at Seattle, or at Juneau, if the rush of gold-hunters
has not exhausted the supply.

It is important to pay attention to a sufficient stock of anti-
scorbutics, for scurvy is the scourge of Arctic residence.

174 HOW TO GET THERE.

The shaving utensils listed may cause some to smile, as they
think the Klondike is no place for " frills," but the experience of
sojourners in those regions of long and intense cold is that a
smooth face is a positive comfort. The breath's moisture con-
gealing in moustache and beard is well nigh as painful a trial in
winter in Alaska as the mosquitos in summer. It is comfort
rather than style to shave.

In making purchases the argonaut should bear in mind that
the very best of everything is none too good and will more than
repay the outlay in the long run. The clothing and food in
particular should be first quality throughout.

One of the most indispensable items in the list is the sleeping
bag, with an outside covering of heavy duck and lined with
warm lamb's wool. It is fixed up with handles, so that in case
of necessity it can be swung up in trees.

Hip rubber boots are another necessary article, in addition to
which a pair of heavy miner's boots is generally taken.

Native Costume.

Many miners adopt the native costume — and it is comfortable
as well as highly serviceable and picturesque.

The boots, usually made by the coast Indians, are of several
varieties. The water boot is of seal and walrus skin, while the
dry weather or winter boot is of all varieties of styles and
material. The more expensive have fur trimmed legs, elabo-
rately designed. They cost from ;^2 to ^5 a pair. Trousers are
often made of Siberian fawn skin and the skin of the marmot, or
ground squirrel. The parka, or upper garment, is usually of
marmot skins, trimmed with wolverine around the hood and
lower edge, the long hair from the sides of the wolverine being
used for the hood. This hair is sometimes five or six inches in
length and is useful in protecting the face of the wearer. Good,

HOW TO GET THERE. 175

Warm flannels can be worn under the parka, and the whole outfit

will weigh less than the ordinary clothes worn in a country where

the weather gets down to zero. The parka is almost cold proof.

But it is expensive, ranging in price from ^25 to ;^ioo. Blankets

and fur robes are used for bedding. Lynx skins make the best

robes. Good ones cost ;^ioo. But the cheaper robes can be

made of the skins of bears, mink, red fox and the Arctic hare.

The skins of the latter animal make warm socks to be worn with

the skin boots.

A Cheap Outfit.

Outfits can be purchased more cheaply than the sample given
heretofore, by lopping off some of the articles. Here is the bill
of one in which each article was of first-class quality, no groceries
nor armament being included :

3 suits heavy woolen underwear, at $4 50 I13 50

4 pairs heavy stockings, at 40 cents i 60

2 pairs German socks, at|i.i5 2 30

I pair hunting stockings i 25

I heavy sweater 4 50

I lighter sweater 2 35

I leather fur-lined coat, short 7 00

I pair jeans trousers, lined with flannel 300

I Mackinaw coat 3 00

I pair Mackinaw trousers 2 50

I suit buckskin underwear 12 00

I pair hip rubber boots . . 5 25

I pair heavy miners' boots 5 00

I pair heavy overshoes 2 10

4 blankets, at I2.40 9 60

I pair leather-lined mitts i 20

I pair woolen mitts i 00

I sleeping bag 12 50

I sleeping cap 75

4 canvas carrying bags 2 00

Tools, including two miners' pans, picks, shovels, axes,

saw, file, knife 7 32

Total I99 72

176 HOW TO GET THERE.

Some men buy sheepskin coats and vests, horsehide coats and
trousers at ;^i8 a suit and extra supplies of "jumbo " undercloth-
ing. Some other men, remembering only the outfits carried to
Harqua Hala or Leadville, squeeze all their supplies into a ;^ioo
bill, but it is safe to say their frugality is '* penny wise and pound
foolish."

Here is a list of provisions sufficient for one man for a montli,
made by an expert. [He probably was not a heavy eater. — Ed.]

20 pounds flour, with baking powder, 12 pounds bacon, 6 pounds beans,
«> pounds desiccated vegetables, 4 pounds butter, 5 pounds sugar, 4 cans milk,
I pound tea, 3 pounds coffee, 2 pounds salt, 5 pounds commeal, pepper,
mustard.

One of the men who has '' been there " has the following to
say of the cost of the provisions a prospector should take with
him :

" No one should venture into the region without some cash
and a sufficient supply of provisions to last eight months. One
should buy these things in Juneau, and he should start out with
something like the following: 400 pounds of flour, 100 pounds
of beans, lOD pounds of bacon, 100 pounds of sugar, 10 pounds
of tea, 30 pounds of coffee, 150 pounds of mixed fruit, salt,
pepper and cooking utensils. The whole outfit can be purchased
well within $go. The cost of conveying this stock of provisions
to the headwaters of Lake Linderman will average about $ i 5 per
100, but even that makes it considerably cheaper than the same
goods can be purchased in the mining camp.

Value of Salt.

Just how valuable salt sometimes becomes in the gold fields
is illustrated in a story told by a miner who lately returned from
there. His party ran out of that useful article, and it seemed
that they would die without it. They came across another party

HOW TO GET THERE. 177

that had salt, but refused to part with it. A pitched battle was
about to begin for possession of the salt, when some one sug-
gested that those who owned the salt were not overly flush with
gold dust, while those who had no salt had plenty of gold. It
was then arranged that gold should be weighed against the salt,
and this was done.

And after this story of the salt, which needs not to be taken
with a grain of that condiment, it is well to reiterate to every
gold hunter going out to winter in the Klondike fields :

" Take your own grub — and plenty of it."

Food in Compact Form.

To those who find something terrifying about a heavy outfit,
with packers' prices over the passes at twenty cents a pound and
upwards, it may be suggested that many staple articles of food
have been prepared in the utmost condensed or concentrated
forms for the use of soldiers in the field, and will no doubt be
equally as nourishing.to prospectors, while enabling them to carry
extensive supplies in small bulk.

For instance, a cup of tea or coffee is crowded into the size
and form of a quinine capsule, a mince pie is the size of a cough
drop, and other delicacies are in proportion. Soup " buttons "
are prepared in the same way, with meat, vegetables and season-
ing all ready for hot water. A loaf of bread is compressed into
the size and shape of a soda cracker, which swells up to normal
size when put in hot water. Ten pounds of vegetables are put
into one-pound can, and a cubic ounce of desiccated beef is
equal in nourishment to several pounds of fresh meat.

Prospectors who go out by the St. Michael's route, if they

purpose wintering on the Klondike, or in Upper Alaska, will not

need to take so elaborate a provision supply by the amount of

at least three months' consumption, but they had better keep

178 • HOW TO GET THERE.

pretty close to the clothing, hardware, armament and camping
schedules. They will find it advisable not to omit the food item
altogether unless they have good assurance that the supplies
brought in by the trading companies will be ample.

Robert Krook's Advice.

Lest any should think too much stress has been laid on tht
matter of supplies to be taken into the Klondike, these words
of Robert Krook, the young Swedish miner, who returned from
Dawson City during the summer, are given in full :

''Every one who goes to Alaska must rely mainly on two
establishments for supplies. Even those who have a good outfit
will find it often necessary to patronize one or other of the stores.
Prices are on an average three times as high as at Juneau or St.
Michael's, and four to five times as steep as in San Francisco.
When the winter is nearly over and supplies begin to run short
prices are, as a consequence, raised. Toward the close of last
winter, before the new supplies came up the river, prices were'
doubled.

"All through the winter men arrive at such mining towns as
Dawson City, bringing with them from one to two tons of food
and clothing. They go up the streams and peddle their goods,
taking care to lose nothing for their time and trouble.

"To one blacksmith shop all miners must go or send when
they have tools to be repaired, or when they need anything
made to order which the stores cannot supply,

" Dawson City can boast of two good practicing physicians —
Police Surgeon Willis and another doctor who went from Circle
City to Dawson last year. They carry their own supplies of
staple drugs and medicines, so as to be able to compound their
own prescriptions. Ordinary remedies are to be obtained at the
two trading stores.

HOW TO GET THERE. 179

" I think it well to mention that the credit system has been
entirely done away with in Dawson. No one can make a pur-
chase of any kind without the necessary cash in the shape of dust.
Of course it must not be understood that we would let a man
starve, but on the other hand, no one must expect to be sup-
ported by the generosity of the people. We are all hard workers
up there, and if any man will work he can always make a living.

"The impression seems to prevail that the mines are close to

Dawson City. That is a mistake. The rich creeks are fifteen

miles off, and it is a day's journey to reach them. The camp

there is as pretty a place as one desires to see. The white tents

and huts of the miners are scattered along the banks of the

creeks or built on the mountain sides, as convenience or fancy

dictated."

Medicine Chest.

Another thing which all prospectors should be careful to take
along is a medicine chest. Doctors are few, distances long and
emergencies of health or limb often most urgent in the Yukon
mining camps.

Here is a list of contents of a medicine chest, whose cost is

within $io, and every article of which is useful in the wilderness.

Quinine pills 50

Compound cathartic pills 50

Acetanilid tablets 3 dozen

Chlorate potash i box

Mustard plasters 6

Belladonna plasters 6

Carbolic salve 4 ounces

Chloroform liniment 8 ounces

Witch hazel I pint

Essence ginger 4 ounces

Paregoric 4 ounces

Laudanum i ounce

Borax 4 ounces

Tincture iodine i ounce

180 HOW TO GET THERE.

Spirits nitre 2 ounces

Tincture iron i ounce

Cough mixture 8 ounces

Toothache drops ' i bottle

Vaseline i bottle

Iodoform 2 drams

Lint 2 yards

Assorted bandages ^ dozen

Rubber adhesive plasters 2 feet

Absorbent cotton 4 ounces

Monsell's salts for hemorrhages — In quantities in accordance
with the person's liability to attacks of the trouble.

Health and the Klondike.

As a rule, no one in ordinary health and strength need fear
to winter in the Klondike or to risk the hardships incident to
getting there, merely on account of the Arctic cold. The brac-
ing effect of the northern climate will probably prove beneficial
to many. Snow and ice are in themselves rather unpleasant
than unhealthful. Scientific records have well established that
longevity increases as residence is advanced from the equator
towards the poles. There is more risk of disease in a voyage to
Panama or India than in one to Behring Strait or Herschel Island.

But weak hearts and weak lungs cannot face northern blasts.
Rheumatism unfits for such tests. People of purely sedentary
habits take big chances on the overland trails and in the gulches.
Weak eyes would be severely tried and, perhaps, blinded by the
glare of the snow^-clad land. Physical exhaustion, colds,
scurvy, rheumastism and snow blindness are the ills chiefly to be
dreaded by the Alaskan gold-hunters, and any who are subject
to troubles of the heart, throat or lungs should stay religiously
away from the Klondike. The medicine chest "would be a futile
resort for them, and some volunteer sexton would likely do for
them the last earthly office before the Alaskan spring bloomed
in May.

•HOW TO GET THERE. 181

But now that the daring prospector is in the Klondike and
washing out the precious dust, his next thought will be, as his
" pile " grows, to get out and back to the baked meats, and flesh
pots of civilization. Hear what Mrs. Frederick Schwatka, who
had much personal experience in Alaska, and got the benefit of
much more vicariously from pioneers returning from the wilder-
ness, has to say about " how to get out : "

" This getting back is a formidable undertaking that appalls
so many. They choose rather to remain whole winters doing
practically nothing that brings in more than a bare existence.
In getting out it is necessary to make progress against the 600
miles of swift river current. Rowing is out of the question,
walking and poling being the methods used. The poles are
about twelve feet long and made of seasoned spruce saplings
and sharpened at the butt end. Sometimes an iron spike is put
in, otherwise it must be sharpened two or three times a day.
Two polemen stand in bow and stern. To stand all day in a
wabbling, cranky boat, and work like a beaver until six or seven
hundred miles are traversed at about fifteen miles a day is in
itself a formidable undertaking. Then the great pass must be
scaled without any assistance, for there are no Indians now to
help. Here it is that many a discouraged miner has given up all
hope and found a grave in the ice-covered mountains. It is the
thought of again seeing something of civilization and the outside
world that buoys up the traveler by this difficult trail."

CHAPTER V.
A Land of Wonders.

Land of the Midnight Sun — Great Distances — Primitive Conveyances — Ter
rors of the Arctic Regions — World of Wonders — Dangers of Travel — A
Great Glacier — A Frozen Cataract — Beautiful Scenery — Rush of Tor-
rents— Marvelous Sunsets — Great Yukon River — Caiion of Lewis River
— Dominion of the Frost King — Towering Volcanoes — The Winter
Moon — A Country of Romance — Totem Poles — Salmon Fisheries — Vast
Solitudes — The Alaskan Natives.

THE man who goes from southern latitudes to seek his for-
tune in Alaska will leave familiar scenes for a land of
wonders. His first experience will of necessity be one of
surprise. He will find a country of new people, new scenes,
and new modes of life.

Every one who has visited the land about which so much has
been written and printed relative to the gold findings tells the
same story of the matchless grandeur of the territory. With
few exceptions all give the same report of the peoples and mar-
vels there to be seen.

It is the land of the midnight sun and the mid-day moon ; of
salt water intruding hundreds of miles into the country, between
mountains that overhang it in such a way as to excite a feeling
of awe ; of the Aurora Borealis, the displays of which are more
magnificent than are ever witnessed in southern regions. It is a-
land of majestic mountains, of vast inland seas, of stupendous
glaciers, compared with which those of the old world are but
trifling affairs. It is a land from which thundering icebergs come
plunging into the sea and float off in their glory of inimitable
splendor. It is a land of exceeding wealth in fish, in timber, in
minerals. And, above all, it is the land in which many think the
182

A LAND OF WONDERS. 183

mother lode of. the gold supply of the Western Continent is to
be found.

One of the first things that will be forced upon the visitor
\^ill be the fact that Alaska is a country of magnificent distances.
It is nine times the size of the New £n gland states ; twice the
size of Texas and three times as large as California. It stretches
more than i ooo miles from north to south, and extends west to
the extreme limit of the Aleutian Islands.

Few people in the United States, probably, are aware of the
fact that the gold fields which are attracting so much attention
are pretty nearly on the medial line of the United States from
east to west. From Sitka, for instance, westward to the limit of
the Aleutian Islands, it is nearly 3000 miles ; and eastward from
the same point it is not over about 3 500 miles to the most east-
erly coast of Maine.

The name of the country itself is simply a designation for the
immensity of its territory — a wonder. It is a corruption of the
Indian name Al-ay— ke-sa, which was given by the native island-
ers to the mainland, and which signifies "great country.", As a
matter of fact, the territory contains nearly 600,000 square miles ;
and it is thus nearly one-fifth as large as all the other states and
territories of the Union combined. It would make more than
twelve states the size of New York.

Poor Transit Conveyances.

These enormous distances soon impress themselves upon the
traveler, and the sense of interminable space is accentuated by
the lack of ordinary transit facilities. Alaska is a land in which
the steam train is not known, and it may safely be said that a
large proportion of the people living in the country have never
heard of such a thing as a railroad. Even horses and wagons
are virtually things unknown. The country has too rigorous a

184 A LAND OF WONDERS.

climate for the successful use of any beasts of burden other than
dogs. Hence, dogs as pack animals and as steeds for sledges
have become one of the chief possessions of the people.

These vast stretches of country are also observable in the
marked differences of climate. Southern Alaska is really a dif-
ferent country than the more northern districts in which the gold
fields of the Yukon have been found. William H. Seward some
years ago, writing from Berlin, makes use of these words: ''We
have seen of Germany enough to show that its climate is neither
so genial, nor its soil so fertile, nor its resources of forests and
mines so rich as those of southern Alaska.'.'

Akin to Norway.

In cHmate and all physical features southeastern Alaska is but
a repetition of southern Norway. It enjoys, however, a greater
wealth of forests. In latitude, configuration, temperature, rain-
fall and ocean currents it is identical. Norwegians, therefore,
could be transplanted to Sitka and its neighborhood, and, barring
the lack of improvements of the old world, would scarcely real^
ize that their location had been changed. During the thirty-six
years that the Russians kept meteorological records in Sitka the
mercury went below zero but four times.

A comparison here may be of interest. St. Johns, New-
foundland, is literally beset by icebergs in summer, and its har-
bor in the winter time is virtually frozen solid. Yet Sitka, which
is ten degrees north of it has always an open roadstead, and it is
only the ends of the longer fiords that are ever covered by ice.

Again it is pointed out that Sitka Castle, which is three miles
north of Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, has a higher average win-
ter temperature than the highland home. In southern Alaska
the snow rarely lies on the ground at the sea level. The mist
and rains reduce it to slush almost as quickly as in Kentucky or

A LAND OF WONDERS. 185

the District of Columbia, the isothermal equals of this region.
We hear much of snow shoes in connection with Alaskan life,
and yet skating is one of the rarest of pleasures for the
Sitkans.

It is a different matter, however, when one pierces the interior
and wends his way over the mountain tops or through the valleys
or along the mighty streams to the gold fields. As one ascends
farther north, with the change of scenes comes a change of air,
till in the neighborhood of Dawson City, Circle City, Klondike,
and the other mining camps, it is no unusual thing for the mer-
cury to fall from sixty to ninety degrees below zero.

Nine months of the year in these nctthern regions the ground
is frozen to the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet as solid as a rock.
Even in summer, which there is virtually but three months, the
ground rarely thaws out more than from two to two and a half
inches.

People who invade these northern districts find that a new
mode of life is forced upon them. The clothing which would be
comfortable even in Sitka no longer furnishes adequate warmth,
and as a result, those who can do so, usually adopt the native
costume, and dress largely in furs.

Wonders to Marvel At.

The voyager, be he excursionist or miner, thus finds an endless
variety of things to admire, to wonder at and to ponder over.
He will scarcely believe his senses or realize the fact that in sail-
ing up the vast inland arms of the sea, which extend oflen hun-
dreds of miles toward the interior, to which he is bound, he is
really riding on salt water, mere inlets of the Pacific Ocean. It
scarcely seems possible to one that he can glide along day afler
day and week after week, if need be, without encountering a
single wave or a single ripple to disturb the motion of the vessel,

186 A LAND OF WONDERS.

and yet, at the same time, be all the time on the ocean and have
the benefits of an ocean trip.

Those who have made the journey over Alaskan waters say
the only realizing sense they have of the character of the voyage
is the voracious appetite engendered, without the accompaniment
of the much dreaded monster — sea sickness.

The islands, too, by- which the vessel glides, will be a constant
source of wonder. One will marvel how, and when, and why,
these islands past which he rides were formed — islands, some of
them no larger than a good sized house, and others large enough
to be empires in themselves.

Channels a Menace.

Not infrequently the traveler has to pass through narrow and
serpentine passages, which can only be navigated at slack and
high tide on account of the teriffic current which rushes through
the straits at other times. These channels are often hundreds of
miles in length and as straight as an arrow. Many of them are
almost unfathomable in depth and are banked on either side by
perpendicular and gigantic mountains, whose untrod summits are
clothed in ice afld clouds.

The impression given the traveler is very much the same as
that afforded by the somewhat similar scenery of upper Norway.
In a general sense there is the same bleakness observable on the
mountains, a somewhat similar stunted vegetation and an almost
identical invasion of the mainland by the sea. But what the trav-
eler will not find in Norway or in any other part of the world are
the matchless glaciers that, in common acceptance, are one of the
most remarkable features of Alaska scenery.

The traveler will see a number of them on his way to Juneau,
glittering in the distance and apparently bleak and inaccessible.
As he gets farther into the country, these glaciers become

A LAND OF WONDERS. 187

greater in size and more numerous. It has been said that the
largest glacier in Switzerland would not make more than a
respectable sized nose if it could be transferred bodily, to the
face of one of these sleeping giants in the fastnesses of Alaska.

The Great Muir Glacier.

Here, again, a comparison will be of service to enable one to
appreciate the wonders of Alaska scenery. Of the Norwegian
glaciers, which may be most fairly used for comparison with the
Muir, the Jodtesalbrae, the largest glacier in Europe, lies three
degrees north of the Muir, at an elevation of 3000 feet above
the sea. It covers 470 square miles.

The Muir glacier drains an area of 800 square miles, and the
actual ice surface, covers about 350 square miles. The mass of
it is thirty-five miles long and from ten to fifteen miles wide, and
lies but a few hundred feet above the sea level. It is fed by
twenty-six tributary streams, seven of which are over a mile in
width.

If all their affluents were named and counted, as in Switzer-
land, the Muir might boast two hundred branches or tributary
glaciers in its system. The mountain gateway, two and a half
miles wide, through which it pours to the sea, is formed by
spurs of Mt. Case, 5510 feet high, and Mt. Wright, 4944 feet
high. All the mountains in the immediate vicinity of the glacier
average from 4000 to 6000 feet in height.

For further comparison it may be pointed out that the
Svartisen, the snow glacier of the Norway coast, about eight
degrees north of the Muir and on the line of the Arctic circle,
is an ice mantle forty-four miles long and from twelve to
twenty-five miles wide, occupying a plateau 4000 feet above the
sea. The Swiss glaciers, all lying from 4000 to 6000 feet
above the sea are like those of Mt. Ranier, and in no way to be

188 A LAND OF WONDERS.

compared with the Muir, twenty of whose arms exceed the Mer
de Glace in size !

Apropos of the Muir glacier one cannot do better than to
quote a few words from the lamented Kate Field on Alaskan
glaciers in general and the Muir glacier in particular. Says
she:

** Soon after leaving Wrangel, the first Alaskan glacier is seen
in the distance, looking like a frozen river emerging from the
home of the clouds. The sea is glassy, and a procession of
small bergs, broken away from the glacier, float silently toward
the south. It is Nature's dead march to the sun, to melt in its
burning kisses, and to be transplanted into happy tears. Wild
ducks fly past, and from his eyrie a bald-headed eagle surveys
the scene — deeply, darkly, beautifully blue — apparently con-
scious that he is the symbol of the Republic.

" There are glaciers and glaciers. In Switzerland a glacier is
a vast bed of dirty air-holed ice that has fastened itself, like a
cold porous-plaster, to the side of an Alp. Distance alone
lends enchantment to the view. In Alaska a glacier is a won-
derful torrent that seems to have been suddenly frozen when
about to plunge into the sea. Down and about mountains wind
these snow-clad serpents, extending miles inland, with as many
arms sometimes as an octopus.

A Frozen Niagara.

* " Wonderfully picturesque is the Davidson glacier, but more
extended is the Muir glacier, which marks the extreme northerly
points of pleasure travel. Imagine a glacier three miles wide
and three hundred feet high at its mouth. Think of Niagara
Falls frozen stiff*, add thirty-six feet to its height, and you have
a slight idea of the terminus of Muir Glacier, in front of which
your steamer anchors ; picture a background of mountains fifteen

A LAND OF WONDERS.

189

thousand feet high, all snow clad, and then imagine a gorgeous
sun lighting up the ice crystals with rainbow coloring.

" The face of the glacier takes on the hue of aquamarine, the
hue of every bit of floating ice, big and little, that surrounds the
steamer and makes navigation serious. These dazzling serpents
move at the rate of sixty-four feet a day, tumbling headlong

MOUNTAIN SCENE IN ALASKA,

into the sea, and, as it falls, the ear is startled with submarine
thunder, the echoes of which resound far and near. Down,
down, down goes the berg, and woe to the boat in its way when
it again rises to the surface."

If the tide is right, the traveler will hear the thundering crash
caused by the icebergs breaking off from the glaciers and

190 A LAND OF WONDERS.

Lumbling into the water. It is no unusual thing for a vessel on
these inland arms of the ocean to be literally in a sea of ice.

A Picture of Beauty.

This is declared to be one of the most beautiful pictures man
ever witnessed, and many of the thousands of people, who have
left southern latitudes to wend their way into the fastnesses of
Alaskan territory have written home in the most glowing terms
of the wonders, witnessed, especially in the ocean part of their
journey. Of these descriptions none, perhaps, is more striking
or will convey a better idea of what travel in these solitudes
really is than the words of Miss Skidmore, who threaded the
wilderness and wrote a book on her experiences Says she :

" Life on the waveless arms of the ocean _as a great fascina-
tion on one of these Alaskan trips, and, crowded with novelty,
incidents and surprises as each day is, the cruise seems all too
short when the end approaches. One dreads to get to land
again and end the easy, idle wandering through the long archi-
pelago.

" The voyage is but one protracted marine picnic, and an
unbroken succession of memorable days. Where in all the list
of them to place the red letter or the white stone puzzles one.
The passengers beg the captain to reverse the engines, or boldly
turn back and keep up the cruise until the autumn gales make
us willing to return to the region of earthly cares and responsi-
bilities, daily mails and telegraph wires. The long nightless
days never lose their spells, and in retrospect the wonders of the
northland appear the greater.

" The weeks of continuous travel over deep, placid waters, in
the midst of magnificent scenery, might be a journey of explora-
tion on a new continent, so different is it from anything else in
American travel. Seldom is anything but an -Indian canoe met.

A' LAND OF WONDERS. l91

For days no sign of settlement is seen along the quiet fiords,
and making nocturnal visits to small fisheries, only the unbroken
wilderness is in sight during waking hours.

** The anchoring in strange places, the going to and fi*o in
small boats, the queer people, the strange life, the peculiar fas-
cination of the frontier and the novelty of the whole thing
affects one strangely. Each arm of the sea, and the unknown,
unexplored wilderness that lies back of every mile of shore,
continually tempt the imagination."

No one can give so good an idea of the marvels and delights
of this strange and virtually unknown country as those who
have actually made an extended journey in it, and no apology,
therefore, is made for the insertion of a passage written by
-mother traveler, who, like Miss Skidmore, went where few readers
of this book have been privileged to go. Speaking of the won-
derful scenery of the country the writer says :

" It is, perhaps, a little remarkable that the marvelous pano-
rama of fantastic peaks, rushing streams, huge glaciers and mad-
dened cataracts in no way lessens the enjoyment or appreciation
of the mountains by the-sea, that pass in review during the trip
to Alaska.

Through Noisy Torrents.

** In one case the traveler is rushing onward, literally at rail-
way speed, now passing through the shoulder of a mountain, and
now round the base of another, sometimes through primeval
forests, sometimes by the side of a noisy torrent or deep canon,
and sometimes through a secluded valley ; and in the other
instance he is gliding along the deep but placid waters of the
landlocked arms of the Pacific Ocean, on the undisturbed sur-
face of immeasurable depths, while the snow capped heights are
within pistol shot of where he sits, and the rugged precipices fall
sheer into the depths almost at his side.

192 A LAND OF WONDERS.

"The entire length of this inland passage of over looo miles
is heavily timbered. Great avalanches of snow have swept down
the mountains here and there, and in their devastating tracks
long streaks of timber have been mowed down. At intervals,
little Indian villages dot the shores, resting most picturesquely
upon narrow shelves just at the edge of tide water, Through-
out the whole stretch of country, travel by land is almost impos-
sible owing to the dense timber and underbrush that cover its

surface."

By Another Witness.

One who nas traveled far and wide (the Marquis of Dufiferin
and Ava) pithily describes the trip through these waters :

" Such a spectacle as its (British Columbia) coast line presents
is not to be paralleled by any country in the world. Day after
day, for a whole week, in a vessel of nearly 2000 tons, we
threaded an interminable labyrinth of watery lanes and reaches,
that wound endlessly in and out of a network of islands, prom-
ontories and peninsulas for thousands of miles, unruffled by
the slightest swell from the adjoining ocean, and presenting at
every turn an ever-shifting combination of rock, verdure, glacier
and snow-capped mountains of unrivalled grandeur and beauty. "

H. Juneau, one of the founders of Juneau, Alaska, gives a
similar account. Says he :

" Along the seacoast Alaska presents a grand and picturesque
view for miles in extent, from an ocean steamer. It is a good
idea to get acquainted with Alaska and enjoy its scenery. It is
a grand country to visit, and its scenery surpasses any mountain-
ous scenery in the world. Travel on water can be provided for
in comfort.and be enjoyed without great risk of danger.

" Alaska is a country on edge. It is so mountainous. Basins
are mainly filled with ice. The weather is always hard in great
extremes. Where there is no ice there is moss and devil's club,

A LAND OF WONDERS. 1C2

the latter a vine that winds around everything it can clutch.
Persons walking become entwined in a network of moss and
devil's club, and passage is extremely difficult and * torturous *
as well as tortuous."

Miss Skidniore has another interesting passage relative to the
beauties to be seen on the trip north from Sitka. Speaking on
the straits and narrows, she says :

" The tourist should not miss any part of this scenic passage ;
the near shores, the forested heights and the magnificent range
of peaks around the Stikines delta, composing one of the noblest
landscapes he will see. The sunset effects in the broad channels
at either end are renowned, and possessor of a Claude Lorraine
glass is the most fortunate of tourists.

Marvelous Sunrise Effects.

" He who has seen the sunrise lights in the narrows has seen
the best of the most marvelous atmospheric effects and color
displays the matchless coast can offer. It is a place of resort
for eagles, whose nests may be seen in many tree tops, and is a
nursery for young gulls, who float like myriad tufts of down in
the still regions.

" A hedge of living green rises from the water's edge, every
spruce twig festooned with pale green mosses. At low tide
broad bands of russet sea weed frame the islets and border the
shores, and fronds, stems and orange heads of the giant kelp
float in the intensely green waters.

" The tides, rushing in from either end, meet off Finger Point,
whose two red spar buoys are prominent in the exciting naviga-
tion. The tide-fall varies from fourteen to twenty-three feet,
and salmon, entering with the tide, turn aside at the red spar
buoys, clear an islet, manoeuvre to the foot of the falls, leap its
eight feet at high tide and swim to a mountain lake."

194 A LAND OF WONDERS.

Nor is the element of the wonderful lost as one leaves these
deep inlets of the sea and penetrates into the interior fastnesses.
One leaves in a measure the stunted, yet luxuriant, forestation
of the southern and coast districts for a bleaker and more repel-
lant landscape. But the great water courses, such as the Yukon
and the Klondike, with their numerous tributaries, in a sense
take the place of the salt water inlets. The rivers alone would
suffice to give a fair idea of the immensity of the country. And
right here a word about the Yukon.

What the Amazon is to South America, the Mississippi to the
central portion of the United States, the Yukon is to Alaska.

It is the great inland highway of the country. It makes it
possible for the explorer to penetrate to the very heart of this
unknown region.

This mighty stream rises in the Rocky Mountains of British
Columbia, and the Coast Range Mountains in southeastern
Alaska, about 135 miles from the city of Juneau, which is the
present metropolis of Alaska. It is only known, however, as the
Yukon River at the point where the Pelly River, the branch that
heads in British Columbia, meets with the Lewis River, which
heads in southeastern Alaska. This point of confluence is at
Fort Selkirk, in the Northwest Territory, something like 125
miles southeast of Klondike.

Giant Among Rivers.

The Yukon River proper, therefore, is 2044 miles in length.
From Fort Selkirk it flows northwest 400 miles and touches the
Arctic Circle. Thence it bends in a southward course for a dis-
tance of 1 000 miles and empties into Behring Sea. The mighty
stream drains more than 600,000 miles of territory and dis-
charges at least a third more water into Behring Sea than the
Mississippi River discharges into the Gulf of Mexido.

A LAND OF WONDERS.

195

At its mouth it is sixty miles wide. As far inland as 1 500
miles it widens out from one to ten miles. Throughout its
course it is dotted with inland islands, more than 1000 of these,
it is said, sending the course of the stream in as many different
directions. The stream thus merits being considered as a geo-
graphical wonder, and from mouth to head there is scarcely a
point devoid of interest to the traveler.

SCENE ON THE YUKON RIVER.

Like most of the great streams of Alaska the navigation of
the river is attended with danger, and the sense of constant peril
affords one of the pleasures of the excursionist's trip to the inte-
rior. Only natives who are thoroughly familiar with the river
are intrusted with the piloting of boats up the stream during tht

193 A LAND OF WONDERS.

season of low water. Even at the season of high water there
are places where the stream is so shallow that it is not navigable
by sea -going vessels ; but only by flat-bottom boats of a carry-
ing capacity of from 400 to 500 tons.

Canon of Lewis River.

As an illustration of the danger incident to this river travel, a
few words may be quoted relative to the cafion of the Lewis River,
which were written by ore who recently made a trip to the inte-
rior. Says he :

" Before reaching the canon, a high cut bank of sand on the
right hand side will give warning that it is close at hand. Good
river men have run the canon safely even with loaded rafts ; but
it is much surer to make a landing on the right side and portage
the outfit around the canon three-quarters of a mile and run the
raft through empty.

" The sameness of the scenery on approaching the cafion is so
marked that many parties have gotten into the canon before they
were aware of it. Below the canon are the White Horse rapids —
a bad piece of water ; but the raft can be lined down the right
hand side until near the White Horse, three miles below. This
is a box canon about a hundred yards long, and fifty in width, a
chute through which the water of the river, which is nearly 600
feet wide just above, rushes with maddening force.

** But few have ever a tempted to run it, and four of them
have been drowned. Of two men who made the attempt in
May, '88, nothing was found saye a bundle of blankets."

Reference has been made to the intense cold of the northern
regions where gold abounds, and it must be borne in mind that
during the winter season, which is practically nine months of the
year, the Yukon is absolutely frozen solid and thus closed to
travel. The Frost King asserts his dominion and locks up all

A LAND OF WONDERS. 197

approaches with impenetrable ice. Only for ten or twelve weeks,
that is, from the middle of June to the early part of September,
is the river for use in travel, except by way of sledges drawn
by dogs.

When, however, in the early spring the bonds of ice are riven,
a never-ending panorama of extraordinary picturesqueness is
unfolded to the voyager. The banks of the stream are then
fringed with flowers and carpeted with the all-pervading moss or
tundra, as it is called. Then birds in countless number and of
infinite variety in plumage, sing out a welcome to the traveler
from every tree top. One may pitch his tent wherever he likes
in midsummer, and a bed of roses, a clumjf of poppies or a
bunch of blue bells will adorn his camp.

Above all the Glaciers.

One is never allowed to forget, however, that high above this
brief paradise by the river side, which for a time is almost of
tropical exuberance, the giant glaciers sleep in the summit of the
mountains above the bed of roses. With the first days of Sep-
tember, and here the traveler will experience a deep sense of
regret — everything is changed. The bed of roses has disap-
peared before the ice breath of the Winter King. This, as has
been said before, often sends down the mercury to from eighty
to ninety degrees below zero.

The birds, as might be expected, hie themselves southward.
The white man has to take to his cabin and the Indian to his
hut, and even the bears are early driven away from the field and
begin their sleep of nine months. Throughout all northern
Alaska, from September on, the rivers are but ribbons of ice,
marking off the mountains, and the plains, and the forests, which
are all alike covered with a coat of snow.

As might be expected from the general configuration of the

198 A LAND OF WONDERS.

land, Alaska is a country of fine waterfalls. The most remark-
able of these leap from the cliffs along Cook's Inlet, and the
alteration of snow peaks, volcanoes, forested slopes and fertile
prairies make a continually changing and charming picture to

the eye.

A Land of Volcanoes.

Go where you will you will find snow-clad peaks, glaciers,
cliffs, and ferreting their way through the country, innumerable
streams, the courses of which are often partially blocked, resulting
in waterfalls and rapids that would be regarded as sights worth
long trips were they anywhere else in the world than in the
distant and, as it*is commonly supposed, forbidding territory of
Alaska. There is a whole line of volcanoes, curving down to
the southwest and joining those of Kurile Islands and of Japan,
which complete the Pacific's " ring of fire," as it is called.

Brilliant auroral displays are mostly to be witnessed in August,
and at such times mirages frequently appear. By refraction, the
ice floes are often magnified into ice cliffs looo or more feet high,
apparently barring a ship's advance or retreat. Many attempts
have been made by photographers to secure a sharp negative of
a mirage, but it is difficult to do so. The lines of glimmering
ice cliffs leave no definition or shadow, but waver and fade
quickly. The reflected light from these glaciers and snow fields
is thus often a bar to the most experienced photographer.

The world has been given, however, -one great hoax in the
way of a picture of an Alaskan mirage. This was the so-called
Phantom or Silent City, whicji was issued in 1889 by Richard
Willoughby. Thousands of prints of a cloudy negative of
Bristol, England, were sold on his statement that he had seen
and photographed the city from Glacier Bay.

It is with the advent of the Winter King that the Alaskan
dogs come in play so conspicuously. And a word about these

A LAND OF WONDERS. 199

dogs, which are really one of the wonders of Alaska, will be
of interest. They really seem not dogs at all, but animals closely
related to the wolf

Strange as it may seem, they are all natural born thieves, or
nothing. They are all prone to enjoy what is commonly called
a "scrap," and they usually celebrate the arrival of newcomers
by a general fight. Men who have spent years in the Alaskan
wilds say that the dogs will steal anything from a pair of boots
to a side of bacon, and in doing so will evince as great a degree
of cunning and cleverness as the most expert thief who ever
plied his calling in a metropolitan city.

To be on the safe side in the matter of their possessions, all
the miners have adopted the plan of ''caching" their harness,
clothing, etc. This is done by erecting a strong house upon
posts twelve or fifteen feet above ground for the safe keeping of
all such articles.

Animals With Cracked Barks.

A peculiar thing connected with these dogs is the fact that
they are all animals with cracked barks. In other words, their
attempts at barking are simply a source of the most unheard dis-
cord. The howling of wolves, it is said, is pleasant music com-
pared with the howling of these dogs at night.

What is more, on the slightest provocation, in the dead of
night, some dog will raise an apology for a bark, and every
animal within a radius of five miles will join in the general up-
roar. Alaska is not obliged to wait for the Fourth of July for
discord. The dogs can make it on short notice at any time.

To the stranger in Alaska the sunlit nights and the moonlit
days will for a long time be a source of constant wonder. Old
Sol, when he is on ducy, which, it must be remembered, is only
part of the year, is no laggard in Alaska. He rises before three

200 A LAND OF WONDERS.

o'clock in the morning and keeps steadily at work until fully
eleven o'clock at night. In the gold regions, therefore, during
the mining months, there are a few short hours only when it is
not sunshine.

Luna Takes Precedence.

During the long winter months, however, Sol takes a back
seat and Luna takes precedence. Then there is an era of moon-
lit days. Miss Anna Fulcomer, a plucky University of Chicago
girl, adverts to this peculiarity — one may say wonder — in a letter
written from Circle City, in the heart of the gold region. She
says :

"While teaching at Circle City I went to school by the light
of the setting moon — that was about nine o'clock in the morn-
ing— and went home at noon by the light of the rising moon.
Literally I have lived in moonlight for the last year. Moonlight
and cold. Still, the temperature last winter was not as intense as
usual. The coldest we had it was only sixty-five degrees below
zero, and that for Alaska in the northern latitudes was mild
weather. It was quite cold enough, however, to make one feel
the need of genuine Alaskan clothing, good shelter and good
solid food.

** I pity the people who come here under the delusion that
mining life in Alaska is anything comparable with what it was
during the gold excitement in California. There they had mild
weather, in which people could comfortably camp out. But
people here must come with the expectation of meeting cold and
hardship and possible suffering."

That many of the miners who penetrate into the wilderness in
the hopes of amassing wealth do meet hardship and suffering is
now an old story. The following words taken from the Alaskan
Searchlight are in point at this time. Says the writer, who made
the trip from Juneau to the Yukon in January :

A LAND OF WONDERS. 201

"The miner of Alaska looks to the Yukon country for a repro-
duction of the scences of the Cassiar and Caribon districts. That
along that river and its numerous tributaries there are millions
of dollars hidden in the sands or locked within the mountains'
rock -bound walls there can be no doubt.

"For several years the more adventuresome of our placer
miners have been going to that Mecca of the North — Forty-Mile
Creek. Many of them have returned after one or two season's
sojourn none the richer, save in experience ; others have struck
it rich and made for themselves snug little fortunes ; and a thou-
sand others are wintering there now hoping that next summer
may bring them that good luck for which they have so long
waited.

'* Day after day, and season after season, the miners toil cieer-
fully at the bars and old water courses of the creeks and rivers
which form part of the Yukon system, and every year sees their
numbers increased, and every fall a larger quantity of gold finds
its way to the mints, and every spring the Alaskan steamers bring
several hundreds to join the fortune hunters of the interior,
Forty-Mile being the objective point of all going to the Yukon
gold fields."

Country Has Its Romance.

And this country so wild, so new, so unexplored, so lately
brought to the notice of the civilized world, virtually is not with-
out its evidence of romance in the way of memorials that point
to former activities that now no longer exist, or mark the spot
of disaster or suffering. As far back as 1883 a forest of totem
poles rose in the great lodges of the Stikihes village. In 1 893
only a half dozen remained, and the "show pair" guarded a
cottage which replaced the ancestral lodge. One of these guards
relates the legends of the builder's family and the other that of
his wife.

202 A LAND OF WONDERS.

Here and there on the route from southern Alaska to the gold
fields the traveler will find similar relics, deserted hearths of a
bygone day. This seems strange in a country so lately invaded
by the white man. And this juxtaposition of the unknown, the
unexplored and the relics of former peoples and former explo-
rers will ever be a cause for wonder.

Speaking of totem poles, it may be said that this is one of the
favorite occupations of the Indians. The traveler will be amused at
the totem poles which are to be found wherever an Indian village
dots the landscape. The natives make them by cutting down a
good sized straight tree, dressing it to the desired size and then
carving it in a very rude way with the figures of birds, Indian
warriors and other fantastic shapes, which very much resemble
Chinese carvings.

Totem Poles Come High.

After these poles have received a sufficient amount of labor and
skill they are raised and planted on end before the owner's huts.
Great value is attached to some of them, and the Indians who,
strange to say, from their uncivilized condition, are the shrewdest
of money makers, will not infrequently ask from ;^ looo to ;^2000
for a pole. This they consider a very reasonable price, and they
are somewhat surprised when the traveler, who places no value
on these rude works of art, smiles at what he deems exhorbitant
figures which they place upon them. Mentioning the Stikines
River naturally brings mention of the marvels of the fishing pro-
duct of Alaska, owing to the fact that a large salmon cannery is
located there. To one who has been accustomed to fish in
southern waters, baiting a hook and pullinp^ out an occasional
fish, it would be nothing less than wonderful to sit down by the
side of the Yukon or the Klondike or the Lewis or the Stikines
rivers to fish for salmon. Fish not infrequently are so thick in
these waters as virtually to impede navigation.

A LAND OF WONDERS. 203

Salmon make their way up the Yukon in shoals lOOO or more
miles, and are caught by the natives, or rather taken by the na-
tives, by the ton. No Alaskan Indian would ever think of fish-
ing with hook and line, or even spearing fish.

They will wait until the shoals come up the river. Then par-
ties of Indians will get on either side of the stream with branches
of trees, sticks and the like and beat the water, thus driving the
fish to the shallow places. Here other Indians will be stationed
with common pitchforks, and will stick and hand out the fish in
quantities that would make them a drug in the southern market.
These fish are often of an exceedingly large size, and when dried
or otherwise cured make the staple of the native diet.

Greatest Salmon River.

It is worthy of note as one of the wonders of Alaska that
the country has the greatest salmon stream in the world. This
is the Karluk River. The stream rises on the west coast of
Kadiak, and is sixteen miles long, from lOO to 600 feet wide and
less than six feet deep. These figures, it is pointed out, give the
dimensions of the solid mass of salmon that used to ascent the
Karluk to a mountain lake before canners came with gill nets in
1884.

The largest cannery in the world is at Karluk. There used
to be II 00 employes, and over 200,000 of forty-eight one-
pound tins, containing 3,000,000 salmon, was the output. A
single haul of the seine in this river has reached 17,000 salmon.
Yet each ebb-tide then left thousands of stranded fish to die on
the banks and bars.

In the palmy days of the canning industry the canners
enjoyed a monopoly without tax, license or any government
interference. The nearest United States commission was 700
miles away. Stores, employes and pack were conveyed to and

204 A LAND OF WONDERS.

from San Francisco in the canners' own vessels, and the hun-
dreds of Chinese, Greek, Itahan, Portugese and American work-
men constituted the most untrammelled community anywhere
to be found under one flag from May to September of each year.

Won't Cure Their Catch.

Often the supply of fish is so large that the natives will not
even take the trouble of caring for their catch ! The fish are
simply piled up and allowed to rot for compost. It might be
mentioned right here that one of the favorite dishes of the native
Alaskans would be a marvel to southerners of a more refined
taste. They will cut off the heads of the salmon, put them in
a hole, bury them and leave them for weeks to rot. Then there
will be a general gathering of the clans, and the deposit of the
fish hole will be opened, and the unsavory mess will be parceled
out to be eaten by the natives as a delicacy. And nobody calls
stinking fish !

In this wilderness of mountains, with their snow-capped
peaks ; plains, with their almost barren and desolate features ;
and rivers, with their almost endless, tortuous courses, where,
until recently, and by recently one means the time of the pur-
chase of the country from the Russians, few ever ventured, the
traveler will be surprised at the almost utter absence of game.
He would naturally suppose that where the white man has been
for so short a time, would be a sportsman's heaven. The con-
trary, however, is true. Here in this wilderness, there is almost
a!i utter absence of game for the reason that the miners, who
have been at work there, finding it impossible to get fresh meat
from the south, and wearying of canned goods, have literally
driven game from every locality into which they have set their
foot. The result is somewhat curious.

There are in Alaska districts comprising hundreds of square

205

206 A LAND OF WONDERS.

miles that are solitudes in the strictest and truest sense of the
word. The white men have not been induced to settle there,
natives have moved away, and all the animals have been driven
away to such an extent that, barring insects, there is no indica-
tion of life in the territory. Solitude and silence reign supreme.
If there is a sound, it is due to the wind sweeping down the
gulleys, upturning trees or something of that sort.

It is worthy of notice that while Alaska may, in a certain
sense, be said to be the home of the Aurora Borealis or North-
ern Lights, and displays are frequently seen covering the entire
northern sky with a brilliancy of color that it would be worth
going hundreds of miles to see, electrical storms are something
of a rarity in Alaska. A cyclone is a thing unknown.

Still, in the summer season the rain -fall is marked, but it
comes without the attending electrical disturbance that is so
common a feature in southern latitudes. This may possibly be
due to the comparative dryness of the northern air. The dry-
ness by the way has the effect of tempering the air and mitigat-
ing the intense cold.

Cold Scarcely Noticed.

Even with the thermometer at eighty or ninety degrees below
zero at Dawson City, Circle City or any of the other mining
camps, the intense cold is really not noticed. It would seem
very strange to a person used to southern weather to hear a
native or a person who had lived for a series of years in Alaska,
talking about its being a warm day or a mild day, with the ther-
mometer at sixty-five below. Yet, this peculiar characteristic of
the weather, extreme dryness with extreme cold, makes this a
common saying among the people.

No chapter on the Land of Wonders, as we have called
Alaska, would be complete without reference to the mosquitos,

A LAND OF WONDERS. 207

which are one of the greatest nuisances of the country. The
Yukon mosquito is a giant among insects and is king of his
tribe. It may seem like a yarn, but it is said to be an actual
fact that the mosquito actually hunts and kills bears along the
Yukon River.

Lieutenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, who visited
the Yukon some years ago, is authority for this statement. He
assures us that the bears, under stress of hunger, sometimes
come down to the river in mosquito time, and are attacked by
the insects, who sting them about the eyes and cause them to
go blind and die of starvation. A prominent Yukon miner, who
has spent years in the country, has published the statement that
he has known mosquitos to bite through a thick moose skin
mitten.

The natives, who are born and bred to the nuisance, are
forced to smear themselves with grease and soot to keep off the
pests. Often miners are forced to resort to the same expedient
or to work with helmets of gauze to protect themselves from the
bites.

Natives of Great Interest.

Apart from any consideration of scenery, industries oi re-
sources, the natives themselves will ever be a source of interest
if not of wonder to the voyagers. Shrewd and enterprising in
their way, they are yet children of nature and have all sorts of
notions that will strike the stranger as odd if not ludicrous.

Chatham Strait, for instance, is a playground of inferior whales,
great totemic creatures, which the Indians believe were once
bears, but going to sea wore off their fur on the rocks and had
feet nibbled off by other fishes. The all-mischievous raven, they
say, often creeps down the whale's throat, and causes such agony
that the whale rushes to the shore and vomits the intruder on
the beach. Paintings and carvings showing the demon in the

208

A LAND OK WONDERS.

whale's body are often taken as proof that the Indians have a
Jonah legend, and are. of direct Asiatic descent.

Another of these old Indian legends that is constantly told to
strangers concerns the all-present glacier. They say that in
their fathers' time, which may be taken as an indefinite or inde-
terminate period anywhere from fifty to a thousand years, the

SCENE IN SOUTHERN ALASKA.

ice reached as far as Bartlett's Bay. About 1 860 it was in line with
Willoughby Island. The Indians say that long, long ago the gla-
cier advanced and swept away a city on the sands at the base of the
mountains, where the Beardsley Islands now rise. They say it
came down in a day and did not go away in ten years, and tell how
the ice floods descended, ploughed up the fields, destroyed their
houses, as the Corner glacier once devastated its valley.

A LAND OF WONDERS. '20d

Again they say, a great wave rushed in from the ocean, swept
away the village near Bartlett's Bay, mowed down the trees with
icebergs, and left no living thing. They say further that a
glacier once crept down and damned up their best salmon
stream. Two slaves were then offered up to the evil god that
caused the mischief.

Tell Legends as Facts.

Legends like these, told as positive fact, coupled with odd
ways of thought and dress and action, make the Indians an
interesting study. They seem in a sense fitting denizens of the
wilds of the territor)^ An ampler account of these Indians,
however, will be given in the chapter on ethnology.

In conclusion, it may be said that one of the wonders of
Alaska is the Treadwell mine, on Douglass Island, near Juneau.
This is the largest quartz mill in the world, and one well worthy
of a visit from anyone wishing to know the process of operation
followed in that particular form of mining. It should also be
remembered that it is only a short walk from Juneau to the
placer mines, so that those who do not wish to penetrate into
the barren wilderness of the North in search of adventure or
wealth, but who wish to see placer mining and know how it is
done without the hardships incident to the long overland journey
on snow shoes or on sledges drawn by dogs, can have their
curiosity gratified and can gain the information desired on a jau»''
for pleasure.

CHAPTER VI.

Women at the Mines.

Schemes for Obtaining Wealth — Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Schwatka in the Frozen
North — The Mosquito Pest^uneau and the Lynn Canal — Climbing the
Mountains — Difficulties of Mining — Scarcity of Game — The Scurvy
Terror — Morals of Klondike Mining Camps — Female Enterprise —
Scarcity of Amusements — Sisterhood of St. Anne — The Four-leaf Clover
— Bridal Trip to Klondike — Romance of Joseph Ladue— Women' g
Klondike Syndicate — A Lucky Seamstress.

THE gold mines on the Klondike are not without their
romance, and by this is meant, not the romance of specu-
lation and adventure, but the romance of real life in
which the gentle sex figure. The poet Compbell, years ago
wrote the couplet :

"The world was sad ; the garden was a wild :
And man, the hermit, sigh'd — till woman smiled."

Some Klondike Campbell sighed, and women all over the United
States smiled. At least they were among the first to catch the
gold fever and brave the dangers and the hardships of the Alas-
kan wilds.

What is more, they contracted the craze just as badly as the
men, and many of their enterprises and their hobbies were no
v/hit less out-of-the-way and outlandish than those of their
brethren./ From Maine to California women of enterprise and
courage, many of them of education and gentle birth, flocked to
the North in the wild rush to secure wealth by a lucky stroke.

Women who had never known hardship in any form, did not
hesitate to leave comfortable homes and brave the unknown.
From the very outset the officers of the great transportation
companies received a numerous mail from the women of the

210

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 211

country, making inquiries as to the outfits necessary for them
and the cost of transportation, and what they would likely have
to undergo in carrying out their projects to penetrate to the inte-
rior of the gold region.

Women with Great Schemes.

Many of these women came with schemes by which they
hoped to attain wealth, not by mining and prospecting, but by
catering to some real or fancied needs of the miners. Others
again expressed their determination to become prospectors and
bona fide miners. No^ few did not hesitate to admit that they
were going to the unlcnown country in hopes of meeting some
miner who had made a happy hit and amassed a fortune, whom
they might captivate by their charms and thus secure at once
both husband and opulence.

Conspicuous among these women who lent the charm of their
presence to camp life were several women of note, who, actuated
by different motives than the great mass, made the long, perilous
journey over the snow-clad plains and mountains, and up the
dangerous rivers as far as Dawson City, Circle City and Klon-
dike. Some of these had had previous experience of Alaskan
summers and winters, and knew what it was to live in moonless
nights and sunless days. Several of them left their homes with
the avowed determination of wintering in the fastnesses of the
North.

Among these women conspicuous for their social position may
be mentioned Mrs. Eli Gage, wife of the son of Secretary Gage
of the United States Treasury. Mrs. Schwatka, wife of Lieu-
tenant Schwatka, the well-known explorer, and Miss Anna Ful-
comer, who first went to Circle City, under the auspices of the
United States Government, to teach the Indians and gather facts
for the Smithsonian Institution. A word from such women will

^1^ WOMfiN At THE MINES.

be deemed welcome to those members of the seit who itiaLy havd
it in mind to brave the perils of the North.

Mrs. Eli Gage came from St. Michael's on the ship which
brought the Klondike argonauts back to civilization. Her hus^
band, who is prominently connected with the North American
Company, is the man who traveled 1500 miles overland last
winter and brought out of the centre of Alaska the first reliable
news of the wonderful strike in the Klondike region. He is a
stockholder in many valuable clainis in that vicinity.

Mrs. Gage returned in August to the far Nortwest to join her
husband, with whom she will spend the winter at Dawson City.
She wa^ accompanied by W. W. Weare, second vice-president
of the North American Transportation and Trading Company,
and several friends of herself and her family were in the party.

They "went in" by way of Juneau and the Chilkoot Pass,
the brave young wife making light of the perils incident to the
800-mile journey over the icy mountains and in an open boat in
Arctic weather, to join her husband at the Klondike capital.

Voyage in a Yacht.

A specially constructed yacht was built for the party m
Toronto, planned and fitted out expressly for the various exigen-
cies of the voyage from Lake Linderman to Dawson. It was
shipped in sections to Dyea, and thence was " carried " over
Chilkoot Pass and put together on the shores of Lake Linderman,
whence the long water voyage began. It was provided with
many comforts and even luxuries to make the journey as little
like the rough, hard experiences of rafting or canoeing as possible,
and still was far from being suggestive of the winter luxury of
the elegantly appointed home in Chicago which Mrs. Gage
abandoned to share with her pioneer husband the rigors of a
close season in the polar climate of Dawson City.

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 213

But her home on Evanston Avenue was, in her mind, at least,
the most unimportant of the many things Mrs. Gage left behind
her in Chicago when she started on the year-long trip into the
northern wilderness. Her fifteen-months' old baby was thought
too young to undertake the hard, hazardous journey, and was left
with friends while the young mother hastened off to the Klondike
to be once more with her husband. When she sees her darling
again the baby lips will have learned the use of speech to wel-
come her, and the tiny feet will know how to fly to greet her

coming.

Tells of the Gold.

In speaking of her trip down on the Portland in July, Mrs.
Gage said :

** It is almost impossible to tell how much money the Portland
brought into the States. The boat was filled with returning
miners and prospectors, and the smallest deposit in the ship's
safe was ;^ 15,000 in dust and nuggets. There were many others
— so many that the captain's room was like the treasure store of
a king. It was literally filled with gold in all forms, and while I
sat in the midst of the wealth it occured to me that the old trade
of buccaneering had missed a rare chance in not waiting by the
sea road for this load of gold.

Mrs. Gage says there is a wonderful quantity of gold in the
Yukon field and any man who has ;^500 for " grub-staking" a
claim need have no fear in going to the Klondike region in hopes
of a rich harvest, for he is sure of gaining it.

Even though a man go poorly equipped and supplied, he rarely
receives poor treatment from the hands of his neighbors, and
may find plenty of work to do which will enable him to earn
from ;^ 1 5 to $iy per day.

Mrs. Gage speaks well of the people who make up the popu-
lation, dwelling on the fact that they are a class who may be

214 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

trusted, and that they form a desirable community. The valley
of the Yukon is not populated with such men as constitute a
large part of western mining camps.

One thing Mrs. Gage particularly emphasizes. It is that there
is absolutely no truth in the report of famine. It has been said
that starvation would overtake many who went to Alaska this
fall, but Mrs. Gage is firm in her belief that enough supplies are
being taken from Seattle and San Francisco by the two trading
companies in Alaska.

"Those in charge of the business of these concerns," she said,
** are making ample preparations for the coming winter. They
fear no famine, and the individual miners are taking advice and
are already supplying themselves with necessities. There is gold
enough in Alaska for everyone."

Reverting again to the marvelous golden treasures of Alaska,
Mrs. Gage said with enthusiasm :

'' Four great Alaskan miners came down with us, and a more
than interesting sight was to go down into the great safe on the
ship and see the bags of gold dust. There have been many for-
tunes found in Alaska, yet there is gold enough to satisfy every-
one.

" Mr. Gage is at Dawson and will not return until spring. He

is constantly busy and likes the life. Since my arrival in Seattle

I heard that a man whom he had ' grub-staked ' has dug up gold

worth ;^3 5,000 in three months on a small claim. If a man goes

out there without money he can very soon earn it, for wages

paid, even for common labor, in all the region range from $ i 5

to ;^I7 per day."

No Fear of the Trip.

Just before leaving Chicago for Dawson City, Mrs. Gage said :

" My husband and I were separated over a year, and he spent

the time in a log cabin at Circle City while I lived in Chicago.

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 215

This year I have decided to go to him. I am not afraid of the
trip. I have been to Alaska and I know the stories of hardship
are much exaggerated. If one is well prepared for the journey-
there is really no great danger. There is no use for doctors in
Alaska."

Mrs. Gage is not a large women, but she said she never enjoyed
better health than in Alaska, despite the cold.

" It is such a dry cold one hardly feels it," she said. ** And
I am not at all afraid. Women are always safe in the Yukon.
Although beer and liquors are sold, the men are rarely disord-
erly and those who do become outrageous are quickly put in
order by the majority. Dress, employment and other circum-
stances make the men of the Yukon often to look and seem
uncouth and coarse, but at heart they are noblemen, and this is
in no way more agreeably shown than by their courteous and
gentle treatment of women. But women going to the Klondike
must make up their minds to live in a primitive way, and be pre-
pared to endure hardships incident to a Hew and Arctic country."

Mrs. Gage's Outfit.

Mrs. Gage's outfit in many things is like that ot a man going
in to " rough it " in the wilderness, and her brother, of course,
looked out for the food supplies for the journey. Yet, it may
be of interest to women who think of going to the Klondike
overland to know that this dainty daughter of wealth carried for
daily wear two short heavy skirts of waterproof cloth made a
la bicycle skirt, a heavy fur coat, warmly lined and with pockets
enough for a man, besides a lined hood attachment to be drawn
over the head and face in cold or stormy weather, several pairs
of stout boots, warm leggings and overshoes', a mackintosh and
a fleece-lined sleeping-bag. Then there was plenty of the soft-
est, warmest underwear in the hamper, and at Juneau Mrs. Gage

216 WOxMEN AT THE MINES.

will supply herself with reindeer hide boots, made with the
soft down inside, long, tight and loose, which will answer either
to keep out the water in case of accident necessitating wading
ashore or during a possible wet experience on a portage or
going over the Chilkoot Pass, or to keep out the cold if at any
time the more civilized boots and leggings fail to meet the
demands of the- Arctic temperature.

" Not a powder-box nor a curling-iron the outfit," Mrs. Gage
said, with a merry laugh, as she enumerated the list of her bag-
gage, or " luggage," as she preferred to term it, not inappro-
priately, because it would have to be ** lugged " so far and often,
" and only a small hand-mirror. Women don't have to * dress
up ' to be appreciated on the Yukon, I assure you."

Mrs, Schwatka no Novice.

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka was no novice in Alaskan experi-
ences. She had been there with her husband and had been over
much of the ground that it is necessary for the prospectors to
traverse on their way from the coast to the gold fields. She
was fairly familiar with the various routes commonly followed
by explorers and miners, and she expressed herself to the effect
that the Taku Pass would prove to be a bonanza to the first
trading company that established a system of pack trains from
the Taku Inlet through to Juneau, which is the base of supplies
for the mining region.

Besides being the easiest route for the miners themselves, it
was, she thought, preferable, because a shallow draft steamer
could be brought to run on the Taku river, which would leave
only ninety miles of land to be crossed to get to Juneau.

Mrs. Schwatka, in discussing the difficulties of the journey
from southern Alaska north, said that her husband had explored
the Taku River and Pass a number of years ago and that he tried

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 217

to get the people of Juneau to establish a pack ti^in line through
the pass to connect with a steamboat on the inlet. That, she
said, was before there was much travel through Juneau. The
.people of the then thriving village did not believe that it would
be a success financially.

Grounds for Her Belief.

Now she thought there was no doubt whatever that it would
be a paying venture and would be a boon to the multitude of
people who were pressing on to the gold fields. Said she :

" In fact, the pass contains an excellent railroad grade, and it
would cost a comparatively small sum to build and equip a road
through the ninety miles between Juneau and the inlet. The
current of the river is strong and there are frequent floods, but
a light draft steamer would have no difficulty in ascending it and
making connections with the road to Juneau. It would be an
easy matter to get supplies from Juneau then. The Canadian
Pacific comes so near to that country it seems as if it could
profitably build a line through the pass and connect the two
branches by steamer.

" Lieutenant Schwatka made a map of the region, which 1
think I shall have published. He made the trip up the river by
canoe and reported the current there very swift and strong. I
am certain that the Taku route is the easiest for persons going
from Juneau, however."

Mrs. Schwatka, like most people who have had any lengthy
experience in Alaska, had much to say of the great territorial
pest, the mosquitos. This nuisance — not nuisance, evil is a bet-
ter word — cannot be overlooked by those who purpose to leave
the States for the plains and mountains of Alaska.

"The pest," said she, " is not so observable, of course, very early
in the spring or late in the fall, but during the mining months the

218 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

mosquitos are simply intolerable. The Indians even, who are
hardened to them, have to go about in summer with their hands
and faces smeared with pitch and lampblack. The ordinary
mosquito netting is no protection whatever, because the mosquitos
force their way, through it.

Mosquito Bites Fatal.

" Many of the miners, in addition to adopting the plan of the
Indians and anointing themselves with pitch and lampblack, work
in summer with their heads in a wire frame covered with close
netting. I have even known persons to die merely from the
bites of the mosquitos.

" This is something for the women who purpose to try their
fortunes in the gold fields to take into consideration. They will
find it is no place, either in summer or winter, for either the
dress or manners to which they have been accustomed in their
southern homes.

*' Imagine, for instance, a society belle, or a woman who has
had gentle rearing and been accustomed all her life to the ordi-
nary convenience and comforts of civilized life, going into the
wilderness of a country about which we know very little, don-
ning the costume largely of the natives and subjecting themselves
to all the hardships and privations necessarily incident to a resi-
dence in that country. Especially imagine such a woman smear-
ing her face with soot and grease by way of cosmetic and wearing
over her coiffure a helmet that would put to the blush in point of
looks and inconvenience'the shields commonly worn by the men
who stand behind the bat in the game of base ball."

Speaking from personal experience, Mrs. Schwatka continued :

" In the summer it is so hot in the river regions that even
the moose are driven away, and it is practically impossible to
get game there, in spite of the reports that are sent out. It will

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 219

not take a very great increase in the white population to kill off
all the game there is. The Indians are pretty careful and don't
kill any more than they need for food, but it will not be that way
with the whites.

" The salmon do not ascend the Yukon as far as the Klon-
dike, either, and fishing in that region is not nearly as good as
it is made out to be. It would be taking a great risk to go
there depending much on the natural resources of the country
for food.

** Prospecting in Alaska is altogether different from what it
was in California. There is as much difference between the
mountains in Alaska and the most mountainous parts of Cali-
fornia as there is between the latter and the Indiana avenue
pavement. California is a flat plain compared with it. All of
the Indians up there die of consumption, partly brought on by
the climate and partly by the hardships fhey have to endure.

Steps in the Ice.

" Why, I have seen these Indians, who are used to the coun-
try, come in with packs from the very same passes which the
miners are now crossing with welts across their backs from the
pack straps almost as thick as my wrist. Their hands would be
torn and lacerated horribly. The only way they can get through
at all in the winter is by cutting steps in the ice."

Mrs. Schwatka gave many interesting recollections of what
she had experienced and witnessed in Alaska. Adverting to
the climate she continued :

" About the middle of August heavy frosts kill all vegetation,
and the country begins this early to take on an Arctic aspect.
Furious gales begin to blow from the north, which continue
with little cessation all winter. In September or October, at the
latest, the river is frozen hard, and sledging, as in the Arctic, is

220 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

the only mode of travel in the country until the great spring
freshets in May set the rivers free. As you can readily see, the
journey to the gold fields by this route is not only a very long
one, but a very expensive one, and wholly impracticable for
numbers in winter. The average miner and prospector must
enter Alaskan fields by a shorter and more accessible route,
even though the hardships encountered arc greater.

For a number of years past, miners going to and from the
placer gold fields at Forty- Mile Creek, and Dawson City, and
Circle City, have used the Chilkoot Pass, outfitting at Juneau,
the principal town of the territory. The Chilkatand White
Passes have never been as popular with the miners as the Chil-
koot. Therefore, I shall speak of the Chilkoot, as they are all
quite similar.

" From Juneau the Lynn Canal is entered at Chilkat Harbor.
This is the most northerly channel in the inland passage route.
This Lynn Canal is divided by a long peninsula. The southern
side is Chilkat and the northern Chilkoot. It is up Chilkoot
Inlet miners ascend, and thence canoe up a rapid, glacier-fed
mountain stream known as the Dayay. They are then at the
foot, or near the foot, of the great pass. This so-called pass is
really no pass at all, but a precipitous climb of over 3500 feet up
bare, rugged rocks, and over great snow peaks, and across
treacherous glacier ice.

Must Climb by Hand.

" So steep is the ascent that the hands of the climbers must
be used to help pull themselves up. No white man can carry
unaided the necessary amount of provisions and material required
even to keep him from starvation until he can reach the mines.
For this reason they rarely make the journey alone, but always
in parties.

Women at the MiisfEs. 221

^' tt is necessary to bargain with the Chilkat Indians to act as
porters and carriers over the trail. They have in the past car-
ried loads of I oo pounds at from |lio to $1$ a load. These
they take over the dangerous and difficult trail to the top of the
mountains or down to the first lake, which forms the source of
the great Yukon River. Here again obstacles are met with, and
it now becomes necessary to build a whipsawed boat, and the
little timber to be found is unsatisfactory and stunted."

Mrs. Schwatka had also much to say of the prospects of the
people who went there and what they would have to expect.
She was satisfied that there were great hopes for the man of
pluck, energy and perseverance ; but she was also convinced that
it was policy even for people of this stamp to go expecting worse
than had commonly been represented at the time when she was
interviewed. Said she :

" I believe that a great deal of gold is going to be found along
White River also. That is in Alaska, and not much prospecting
has been done there yet, I understand. V/hen I was last in
Alaska, five years ago, the so-called * Klondike ' was an unknown
and untalked of region and almost unheard of Lieutenant
Schwatka explored the country, and brought back a good many
photographs and maps of it which are very interesting. I believe
the Klondike is nothing more than a little creek, which, as it was
about the first place in that region where gold was found, gave
its name to the whole region, and has assumed the importance
of the Yukon River itself in the eyes of the people who read
about it.

" I have already spoken of the lack of work during the long
winter season. It must not be understood that no work can to
done, then, for many miners spend the winter prospecting in
places where it would be impracticable in summer. On some
submerged bar they build a fire, and when it burns down they

222 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

pick and shovel out the gravel as far as the warmth has pertetrd-
ted. This is repeated until they sink a shaft to bedrock. In
summer the water pouring through the loose gravel prevents
deep shafting except by expensive works.

Mining Very Difficult.

" Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I
have said, the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth
is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever
the sun strikes the surface great pools of muddy water are
formed, and this prevents any sort of prospecting. These pools
of stagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats,
which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting,
or, better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands
and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the
pests from biting.

'*At some seasons in this country they are in such dense
swarms that at night they will practically cover a mosquito net-
ting fairly touching each other, and crowding through any kind
of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people of experience that
they form co-operative societies and assist each other through
the meshes by pushing behind and pulling in front. Others again
say they are too mean for such generous action."

In Mrs. Schwatka's opinion, Juneau was bound to be the most
important trading centre of Alaska for the mining district, and
she thought that it was eminently desirable that capitalists with
the means at their disposal should take steps without delay to
make more sure and ample the food supply of the Yukon Val-
ley. The main reason why she insisted on this was, that the
game had largely been driven awa)' from the mining districts
and that it was a menace to the health of those who had cour-
age to penetrate the wilds to have to live week after week and

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 22S

month after month on dried fish, as the Indians do, or on canned
goods exclusively.

Speaking of the scarcity of game in the Yukon Valley, Mrs.
Schwatka said :

The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the
summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes.
Formerly during the winter season a living could be made by
experienced hunters in bringing moose and caribou meat to
camp. I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on
the Yukon, that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous
on the bald hills above timber limit, in the present gold-field
district that they gave the snow a mottled gray appearance.

* Of course these have now disappeared with the advance of
civilization, and fresh meat of any kind is now at a premium.
To illustrate how abundant this game was but a few years ago, a
hunter captured a couple of young moose and they were made
great pets among the miners during the long winter.

"This scarcity of game of all kinds," continued Mrs. Schwatka,
"coupled with the great number of people entering the country,
will in the near future be productive of great suffering, unless
positive and decisive steps are taken to make the food supply
ample and sure, as I have said. Tin and canned goods are very
high in price, and it seems a wrong to the miners that, for a lack
of ample transportation facilities, which, in my opinion, might be
easily provided, they are subjected to the dangers of the diet
they have to put up with.

Scurvy a Terror.

" Scurvy is one of the greatest evils of camp life, and this is
engendered and fostered by the diet the men and women in
the Klondike region have thus far had to endure. It is only
a hearty man who, in face of the hardships and privations

'm WOMEN At THE MlNfi^.

to which the mining community is subjected, can survive
the six or eight months of dim twilight of the winter season,
with the thermometer ranging anywhere from forty to ninety
degrees below zero."

Mrs. Schwatka thought that great care should be taken by
those who tempted fortune in the wilds of Alaska in the
matter of providing a suitable outfit. She was convinced
that a great many had gone and would likely go, who were
little fitted to the experiences they would have to face, but,
said she :

" Those who are determined to go should not only take the
necessary whiter clothing, but be prepared to invest in Arctic
furs — a reindeer coat, suitable boots and leggings, and a fur
sleeping bag. Skins of the temperate zone do not make the
best clothing for this purpose. A reindeer sleeping bag will keep
one warm in the severest weather and is a necessity, especially
if one is to try to pass the winter in a tent, as I have heard
many will do.

*' Even the Indians of the country take extra precautions in
preparing their lodges in winter, building houses of brush and
logs. With proper clothing and plenty of nutritious food the
problem in this land is easily solved."

Warning to the Sex.

In conclusion Mrs. Schwatka wished earnestly to give warning
to her sisters who were likely to seek their fortunes in the
unknown country. She said she did not wish to discourage
those who thought it to their interest to brave the perils, but
considering all things, and speaking from her own hard experi-
ence, she thought that the average woman would find it more to
her interest, and certainly more to her comfort, to leave the
dangers incident to the extremes of climate, dangers of diet, and

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 225

hardships of travel to the men, who are better able naturally to
support what will have to be undergone. Said she :

** To keep from freezing it requires the same sort of clothing
that the Arctic explorers wear — all furs and no woolens. The
fur coats are made by the Esquimeaux from skins brought over
from Siberia, and it is likely that they will cost a great deal more
than they ever did before.

"Alaska is a poor place for women and noplace at all for children.
Of course, many women are able to endure hardships and fatigue
just as well as the men, and it might not be so bad for them to
go there in summer. It is a fearfully hard life there at best."

Miss Anna Fulcomer, like Mrs. Schwatka, has had a former
experience in Alaska. She is of Norse descent, and is thoronghly
imbued with all her race's traditional love of adventure. As
said above, she went to Alaska on her second trip as a Govern-
ment employe, receiving a good salary and being screened from
many of the hardships to which other women who went to the
Alaskan gold mines were subjected. But she, like the rest,
became touched with the craze for gold, and determined to leave
her school in Circle City, which, soon after the Klondike fever
broke out, became virtually a deserted town, and try her
fortunes with the rest of the prospectors.

Got a Man for Nothing.

So she hired a dog for $;^o, agreeing to pay $y$ if anything
happened to the animal, and had a man thrown in for nothing.
A few days after her determination to quit Circle City, she was
on the trail of the gold-seeking throng. It did not take her a
great while to discover that it is not all gold that glitters, and
before she had been many days on her enterprise her hopes were
a good deal like Alaskan weather, so far below zero, that she
could scarcely read the thermometer. Some of her experiences
15

226 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

can best be told in her own language. Said she relative to the
difficulties of beginning her enterprise :

**A dog, a dog, my kingdom for a dog," is the general cry
here. Horses have practically proved a failure here as a means
of transportation. They have to be housed in tents in which a
fire is kept. The dogs, however, live on next to nothing, and
often make quite astonishing time. We had a visitor at the
house I am living in, some time ago, who came on a dog sledge
eighty miles in nineteen hours, without once stopping. Another
man came here 240 miles in five days.

*' The relative value placed on men and dogs is shown by the
fact that I could get an experienced man for my trip to Klondike
for nothing, but had to pay ;^30 rental for a dog, and had to
make a contract to pay $'j^ if anything happened to the animal.
The hopes of hundreds here rest on their ability to get a bob-
tailed dog. When I set out on my gold-finding enterprise I
found that my case was not an exception."

Good Word for Morals.

Miss Fulcomer has a very good word to say for the morals of
the Klondike mining camps. During her year of residence at
Circle City she knew of no murder being committed, and of very
little lawlessness of any sort. The miners, she said, practically
make a law unto themselves, and woe betide the man rash
enough or dishonest enough to violate the unwritten code.
Continuing, she said :

" One of the peculiar features of the new camp is the lack of
shooting, due to the fact that the Canadian government does not
permit men to carry firearms. Police disarm miners when they
enter the district, so that there is not any of the lawlessness and
crime which marked early placer mining in California. There is
much gambling and play is high.

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 227

" * Lawyers and other disturbers of the peace ' are kept out,
and this is the reason assigned for the quiet and order that
prevail.

" The camps are in no sense to be compared with the camps
in California during the gold fever there," says Miss Fulcomer.
"Their inaccessibility in a large measure protects them from
desperate characters. It is a 900-mile trip over the snow from
Juneau to the gold fields, and it is a hardy person who would
enter upon a trip that none but Arctic explorers ordinarily would
undertake. The climate, too, makes living out of doors impos-
sible, and it costs money to live under shelter. These condi-
tions, as you will readily understand, help to keep away mere
adventurers.

Side-tracked in Desolation.

" But it is a dreary place to be side-tracked in. The average
piiner and prospector is buoyed up by the knowledge that there
is gold in abundance on the Yukon, and the hope that he may
make a fortune quickly. For the rest of one's personal experi
ence, the less glowing accounts that are given the better."

Like Mrs. Schwatka, Miss Fulcomer wished to emphasize the
fact that Alaska in the mining regions is anything but a paradise.
She said she pitied the people who came there under the delusion
that mining life there was anything to be compared with that
which obtained in California in the days of the gold excitement
in that State. There were only four months in the year, she
said — May, June, July and August — when mining was possible,
and even then the ground thawed no more than two or three
inches. The rest of the time the soil was virtually like a solid
rock, and to make matters worse the thermometer was likely to
be from ninety to ninety-five degrees below zero.

"One of the great causes of suffering here," she said, "is
that Americans put on their heaviest clothing almost as soon as

228 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

they get here. The result is that when regular winter weather
sets in and the thermometer gets down to eighty or ninety degrees
below zero, they nearly perish. This, with the difficulty of get-
ting good, fresh, wholesome living, makes the Yukon gold region
anything but an Eldorado.

" This," Miss Fulcomer explains, " is not because there is not
gold at Klondike — there is gold in abundance, dirt rich enough
on some claims to yield from ;^ioo to ;^500 per pan ; but it is
mined with difficulty, mined in a small way, mined slowly, so
that for the average experienced digger the profits are swallowed
up in the expenses. Men who have been mining at other points
in Alaska and the British Dominion virtually abandoned their
old claims, owing to the craze over Klondike, hurried there and
staked off their claims, and are holding or working them. This
was early in the movement, and consequently newcomers have
to be content with the leavings of the old men in the work."

First to Cross the Divide.

Dawson City at the time the Klondike fever broke out in its
full intensity, had a population of 2500 souls, and of these only
thirty-three were women. To Mrs. Tom Lippy belongs the
unique distinction of being the first to cross the divide and go
into the new Klondike camp. She is described as a little, lithe,
brown-haired, brown-eyed woman, to whom fear is practicalfy
unknown. Unlike many of the women in the camp, she, for a
long time clung to her costume of civilization, dressed neatly
and even stylishly. She followed her husband and her husband's
fortunes, and did not think she was doing anything out of the
way in braving the same perils he was obliged to face. Said she,
when asked about her trip and her life in the gold region :

" I was the first white woman on the creek and the only one
in our camp. There was another one mile from us, Mrs. Berry.

■ WOMEN AT THE MINES. 229

She was the only white woman I had to speak to while we were
at camp. When we got to Eldorado Creek we lived in a tent
until Mr Lippy got our log cabin built. It is twelve feet by
eight, eight logs high, with mud and moss roof and moss between
the chinks, and has a door and window. Mr. Lippy fnade the
furniture — a rough bed, table, and some stools. We had a
stove — there are plenty of stoves in that country — and that was
all we needed. The cabin was cozy and warm. I looked after
the housekeeping and Mr. Lippy after the mining.

" Everything we had to eat was canned. Things were canned
that I never knew could be canned before. Of course, we
missed fresh food dreadfully, but we kept well and strong. We
had no fresh milk or meats or fruits or eggs.

Dearth of Amusements.

" Amusements ? Well, nobody bothered much about amuse-
ments. Everyone was busy and kept busy all the time. I did
my work. Mining is hard work — one doesn't pick gold off the
ground. It is genuine toil, and when Mr. Lippy finished he
wanted to rest. All men were about alike on that point.

" Fashion ? Well, we were not entirely cut off from the fash-
ionable world. People were coming in all the time. We got
fashion papers, a few months old, to be sure, but still they kept
VIS fairly up to time."

Most people who have taken interest in the report of the Klon-
dike region will remember Joseph Ladue, who owns the site of
Dawson City. On returning to Plattsburg, New York, early
last August Mr. Ladue had some interesting gossip about women
at the mining camps. Several of those who had faced the dan-
gers of the journey to Klondike, he said, were doing well and
would likely be large gainers by their enterprise. Said he :

" There are women there who own property. Susie Lamar is

230 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

one. She is a single woman who came from Germany. She
has been cooking for me and my partner. I guess she has done
pretty well. I pay her ;^40 a month right along.

" Lottie Barnes also owns property there. She came over the
divide two years ago and settled on Second avenue. She was
formerly in Circle City.

" There is also a Mrs. Willis, who has quite a history. She
went in with my party two years ago. In the party were Ellis
Turner, from Schuyler Falls ; William Lamay, George Mulligan
and myself She joined our party at Juneau, where she had been
working in the laundry. She is about forty-five years old, a
blonde, stout and rugged. She pulled her own sled weighing
250 pounds from Lake Linderman through to Lake Labarge,
about 700 miles.

Women of Enterprise.

" Before she came there she was stewardess on the steamer
Willipaw, when I first met her. She went first to Circle City,
where she started a laundry and bake shop. She did pretty
well. I think she got fifty cents a loaf for bread — ^pound loaves
made from wheat flour. She went out two years ago as a nurse
for the steamship company. I think she went as far as San
Francisco. She returned the next spring. That time she
brought in herself, with the aid of two dogs, about 750 pounds,
including a sewing machine.

'* That was not the first sewing machine brought in. Mrs.
Behan, wife of a banana trader, brought in the first machine about
twenty years before. Two years ago I suppose there were prob-
ably forty or fifty sewing machines in the country.

'* There were pianos there. The pianos and organs were
principally in the dance-houses and theatres at Circle City."

Klondike is not much of a place, as the reader will readily

• WOMEN AT THE MINES. 231

understand, for style, but once in awhile there is a " boiled shirt "
to be seen there, and to Mrs. J. P. Wills, of Tacoma, is due the
honor of introducing the first one. She is described as a women
of iron will, whose husband is a gun or locksmith and virtually
a cripple from rheumatism. His illness made it impossible for
him to undergo the dangers of the journey and penetrate to the
frozen North, but his wife said she would go for him, and go she
did.

She settled at one of the mining camps and for two years made
so little money that she was practically disheartened. Then the
Klondike mines were discovered and Mrs. Wills was among the first
to join a party of cattle men and hurry to the new region. She
began her career in Alaska as a washerwoman ; then she went
to work as a cook for the Alaska Commercial Company, at Daw-
son City, and received fifteen dollars a day for her services.

Her Experience a Romance.

When she joined the throng heading for Klondike she asserted
her determination to abandon the work she had been doing and
take a claim. She did so, and in a few weeks struck it so rich
that instead of being a poor washerwoman she was worth a
quarter of a million dollars.

While doing washing Mrs. Wills introduced the first "boiled
shirt" into the Yukon gold camp and paid ;^2.50 for the box of
starch with which she starched it. Her first assistant in the
laundry was a squaw, to whom Mrs. Wills paid four dollars a
day and board. Her little log cabin cost her thirty-five dollars a
month and her supply of wood for the winter cost ^^22 5. A
twenty-five-cent washboard cost her six times that amount, and,
while she made a small fortune washing and baking bread, Mrs.
Wills complains that the trading company got most of it. Mrs.
Wills parts her hair on the side like a man and is stout and jolly.

232 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

She is fifty years of age and is industrious and a good business woman.
The Catholic Church has long had a representation in the
frozen wilds of the North, but almost immediately when the
Klondike gold fields were discovered, two Sisters of Mercy,
young women from Lachine, in the Province of Quebec, headed
their way for San Francisco on their errand of mercy, braving all
the severities of an Arctic winter, that they might render such
service in the camp life that might be demanded of them. The
two young women belonged to the Sisterhood of St. Anne.
When they started they did not expect to be able to go any fur-
ther than St. Michael's, completing the journey at the earliest
possible moment.

Mercy Their Motive.

When the girls started there were already thirteen sisters of
the Order of St. Anne in Alaska, some at St. Michael's, others
at Holy Cross and St. Joseph, and the remainder at Circle City.
At this latter town the sisters run a hospital, and it was to work
in the hospital for a time and then push on farther into the wil-
derness that these two brave young women undertook their haz-
ardous journey.

Importation of young women into Northern Alaska as wives
for the miners is the project one elderly dame laid before the
officials of the North American Transportation and Trading
Company. She figured that at least 2000 of the 10,000 hardy
prospectors in the Klondike would like to get married right away
and would be willing to pay a good price for the proper kind of
helpmeets.

" I am organizing a company," she said, ** and want your
indorsement. You can make money off the transportation and
board of the women, and the commissions from the miners will
insure my company a big profit. Now, I want you to take some
of the stock in pay for the passage of myself and two or three

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 233

agents while we run up there to make arrangements and — ."
But Mr. Weare shut her off and made his escape.

Charlotte Smith, the Eastern sociologist, wants to transplant
4000 or more working women from sweatshops and factories to
Klondike camps. Hers is not a money-making scheme — she is
laboring solely in what she thinks the best interests of humanity.
Transposition from a life of drudgery, with a bare pittance in the
way of wages, to homes in Alaska would, in Miss Smith's
opinion, be a blessing which thousands of women would be
glad to embrace. To carry out her plans funds are needed, but no
big subscriptions thus far have been reported. In the meantime
an enrollment is going on of those women who are willing to
take their chances in the frozen North.

Went for Business.

Another woman wanted to get ;^2000 to use in organizing a
company to locate gold placer claims. She was endowed with
powers of clairvoyance and could unerringly point out hidden
deposits of precious metals. She had done so with great suc-
cess in California and Colorado, and would now like to try her
hand in Alaska. Suggestion that clairvoyance should enable
her to pick out a backer was taken as a personal insult, and she
departed in high dudgeon.

There is a touch of romance and good fortune in the story of
Mrs. Capt. Healy. She went to the Klondike region a poor
woman and soon became a mine owner. Opposite the Klondike
River on the rocky cliffs that project into the Yukon is the
pioneer quartz mine of the country. It was at this point that
what is known as the great copper belt crosses the river. Cap-
tain Healy of the North American Transportation and Trading
Company, a couple of years ago, located on a ledge after a very
superficial examination of it.

284 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

Quartz mines were at that time practically ignored, and after
a while the captain forgot the circumstance of his owning a
claim, and made a trip on the company's business to Sixty- Mile.
It was on this trip that he recalled the circumstance of his own-
ing the claim, and, while passing it, made the remark :

" It's good-looking rock," said the captain, " but I don't think
I will bother with it. There will be plenty of time for consider-
ing quartz."

"Aren't you going to claim it?" asked Mrs. Healy.

" No ; I don't care to bother with it — not now."

'* If you don't want it, I do. I will locate it and pay for the
assessment work."

" Well, it's your mine, then."

Mrs. Healy Begins Work.

And so Mrs. Healy re-located it, and they set a man to work
out the first assessment and took samples of the ore. Mrs.
Healy named it the Four-Leaf Clover, so if anyone sees it
quoted in the mining exchanges, away up pretty high, he may
know it is her mine.

They gave the samples to the assayer, and they show from $S
to ;^i6 to the ton in gold, in addition to a good percentage in
copper. The vein is eighty feet wide.

Early in August, Miss Georgia Osborne, of Jacksonville, 111., a
miss of twenty-two summers, accompanied by Mrs. M. L.
Keiser, of the same place, set out for the Klondike diggings.
Mrs. Keiser said she had scaled the Alps and knew how to
rough it, but Miss Osborne had had no experience of that sort,
but was brave enough to face the dangers without question.

Miss Mary Elizabeth Mellor, Superintendent of the United
States Indian Training School at Unalaska, Alaska, took a trip
to the Klondike regions, and for a time experienced all the

* WOMEN AT THE MINES. 235

dangers and hardships of camp life. She returned to Seattle on
the steamer Portland, early in July of the present year, and in
speaking of the short summers and long winters of the northern
wilds, of the scarcity of food and inadequacy of the clothing
supply, touched upon the hardships of the miners and said
their sufferings were often something terrible. She said :

"When I left. flour was selling at the rate of $^o a sack,
and if the luxury of eggs was indulged in the consumers paid
$4 per dozen. Then it must be remembered that each egg of
the twelve was not what a Pennsylvania farmer would consider
freshly laid. Clothing is also hard to obtain and is high in price,
the majority of the gold-seekers wearing clothes made of coarse
woolen blankets."

Romance of Courtship.

Clarence J. Berry is commonly called the Barney Barnato of
the Klondike, and his bride the belle of the mining district. The
couple made one of the most fortunate strikes at the dig-
gings. He took out ;^ 1 30,000 from the top dirt of one of his
claims in five months, all of which was clear profit, barring
;^ 2 2, 000 which he paid to his miners. His wife, the bride of but
a short time, was equally as energetic and fortunate. She had
her own claim and is reported to have lifted out ;^ 10,000 or
more in her spare moments.

Berry and his wife went to the Klondike on their honeymoon.
They were gone but fifteen months, came back wealthy to San
Francisco, the happy possessors of claims that are supposed to
be worth millions of dollars. And behind these millions oi dol-
lars there is a pretty romance which is worth relating :

Berry was a fruit raiser in the southern part of California.
He did not have any money. There was no particular prospect
that he would ever have any. He saw a life of hard plodding

236 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

for a bare living. There was no opportunity at home for get-
ting ahead, and, like other men of the far West, he only dreamed
of the day when he would make a strike and get his million.

This was three years ago. There had then come down from
the frozen lands of Alaska wonderful stories of rewards for men
brave enough to run a fierce ride with death from starvation and
cold. He had nothing to lose and all to gain. He concluded
to face the dangers.

His capital was ;^40. He proposed to risk it all — not very
much to him now, but a mighty sight three years ago. It took
all but five dollars to get him to Juneau. He had two big arms,
the physique of a giant and the courage of an explorer. Pre-
senting all these as his only collaterals, he managed to squeeze
a loan of $60 from a man who was afraid to go with him, but
was willing to risk a little in return for a promise to pay back
the advance at a fabulous rate of interest.

Pluck Carried Him Through.

Juneau at that time was alive with men who hajd heard from
the Indians of rich finds of gold, and had seen samples of the
rock and sand which they had brought. A party of forty men
was formed and Berry was one of the forty. Each took a com-
plete outfit and a year's mess of frozen meat and sufficient furs,
packed the stuff to the top of the Chilkoot Pass and pushed on
toward the interior. Thirty-seven of the forty turned back in
despair, but Berry was one of the three who had pluck enough
to hold out, he being obliged to borrow bacon and other sup-
plies to get through, and landing at the diggings without a cent
in his pocket.

He reached Forty-Mile within a month and began work at
;^ioo a month. He soon secured a claim and on finding him-
self on the highway to wealth sent word to Miss Ethel D. Bush,

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 237

to whom he was engaged, telling her of his good fortune and
holding her to her pledge. Berry then went for his bride, and
soon the couple were on their way back to the diggings.

They both decided it was worth the try — success at a bound
rather than years of common toil. Berry declared he knew
exactly where he could find a fortune. Mrs. Berry convinced
him that she would be worth more to him in his venture than
any man that ever lived. Furthermore, the trip would be a
bridal tour which would certainly be new and far from the
beaten tracks of sighing lovers.

A Remarkable Bridal Trip.

Mr. and Mrs. Berry reached Juneau fifteen months ago. They
had but little capital, but they 'had two hearts that were full of
determination. They took the boat to Dyea, the head of navi-
gation. The rest of the distance — and distances in Alaska are
fong — was made behind a team of dogs. They slept under a
tent on beds of boughs.

Mrs. Berry wore garments which resembled very much those
of her husband. They came over her feet like old-fashioned
sandals, and did not stop at her knees. They were made of seal
fur, with the fur inside. She pulled gum boots over these.
Her skirts were very short. Her feet were in moccasins, an(i
over her shoulders was a fur robe. The hood was of bearskin.
This all made a very heavy garment, but she heroically trudged
along with her husband, averaging about fifteen miles each day.
They reached Forty-Mile Creek a year ago in June, three months
after they were married. They called it their wedding trip.

Berry built for his bride a log house, leaving simply holes for
doors and windows. The thermometer was then getting to from
forty to fifty below zero.

Mrs. Berry trudged through the nineteen miles of hard snow

238 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

and took her place in the hut with her husband. There was no
floor, but the snow bank. It cost the couple ;^300 a thousand feet
to get firewood hauled, and there was but little chance to use fuel
save to thaw out the moose and caribou which the Indians
peddled.

The bride and groom kept warm by cuddling — a thing some-
what unknown in civilized communities, but absolutely necessary
with the mercury disappearing in the bulb, and wood worth its
weight in gold. They endured all the hardships without com-
plaining, since by this time they knew they had reached the
golden pot at the tip of the rainbow.

All Credit to His Bride.

Berry give& all the credit of his fortune to his young wife. It
was possible for her to have kept him at home after the first trip.
She told him to return — -and she returned with him. It was an
exhibition of rare courage, but rare courage fails. The wed-
ding trip lasted about fifteen months. Berry says it was worth
;? 1,000,000 a month. This estimate is one measured in cold
cash — not sentiment.

The new gold king and queen made the first strike of a year
ago in November. They were working along Eldorado Creek,
a branch of the Bonanza, which empties into the Klondike about
two miles above Dawson City. Their site was the fifth one
above where the first discovery had been made in this particular
region. It took nearly a month to get into paying dirt, but
when the vein was opened it was simply awful.

The first prospect panned two and three dollars to the pan. It
grew suddenly to twenty-five and fifty dollars to the pan, and
kept increasing. It seemed they had tapped a mint, and one
day Mr. and Mrs. Berry gathered no less than ;^595 from a single
pan of earth. This they saved in a sack by itself, and the peo-

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 239

pie who have listened to the strange stories of the young man
and his young wife have no fear that they have been mistaken.

Many Catch the Fever.

Thirteen women left Seattle for Alaska ver>' soon after the
Klondike fever broke out, and with them went the Rev. Father
Stippick, who had for years been stationed at Circle City.
Among the women were Mrs. Holmer Chase, Miss Pauline Kel-
logg, Mrs. C. W. Romley, all of Chicago. They all declared
they were going to the new Eldorado, not for pleasure, but to
seek their fortunes, the same as the men who had undertaken
the journey.

One of the most striking instances of good luck at the dig-
gings in which the woman is in any way concerned, was that of
Ulry Gaisford, a Tacoma barber. Heartbroken, it is reported,
over a wayward wife, he fled from his Tacoma home and sought
to bury himself in the Klondike camps. He arrived there
penniless, and within eighteen months found himself the sole
owner of a Klondike placer, which is conservatively estimiated
as being worth ;$r, 000,000. Within a few days after beginning
to work on his claim the barber had taken out ;^ 50,000.

Ulry, it is said, brooked the conduct of his wife as long as he
could, and then furnished her the money, on her request, with
. which to secure a legal separation. This formality completed,
Ulry hied him to the wilds of Alaska, where he and his com-
panions were shipwrecked while navigating the Pelly River, and
provisions and clothing were lost. With absolutely nothing left
but the clothing on their backs, almost all became disheartened
and returned to civilization.

He pressed on, for a time working in a saw mill and later
running a little barber shop in Circle City. It is with the trifle
he saved from his barber shop and some money he saved in a

240 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

logging enterprise on the Yukon that he filed a claim on the
Klondike.

Mention was made above of Joseph Ladue, and there is a
pretty romance connected with his marriage and good fortune.
Many years ago, it is reported, he became enamored of a Miss
Anna Mason, of Schuyler Falls, and they soon became engaged
to be married.

The parents of the young woman objected on account of
Ladue's lack of financial resources, and he went out to the Black
Hills during the mining craze in that region. He was lucky and
struck it rich. He corresponded with his sweetheart, and at last
he thought he had enough money to return and claim the bride.

Lost a Fortune.

Leaving the mines, he tarried at Deadwood, was enticed into
a gambling game, and his fortune passed into the pockets of
sharpers. He wrote his affianced and told her the facts, adding
that he was going to Alaska to make another fortune and hoped
she would wait for him. Correspondence was kept up and the
young woman remained constant to her faithful and adventurous
lover.

When he visited his old home two years ago he was already
prosperous, but he was not satisfied with his accumulations, and
it was decided to postpone the marriage awhile longer.

He returned to his sawmill and trading post on the Yukon,
and when the rich gold discoveries there brought him wealth
beyond what he had dreamed of, he shaped matters as soon as
possible to return and fulfill his long engagement. The parents
are satisfied with his worldly prospects at last, and the wedding
was celebrated at Schuyler Falls lately. That quiet hamlet was
in a fever of excitement over the nuptails which crowned this
romance in real life.

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 241

These cases are but a few^of the many which might be cited
as illustrations of the interest women have taken in the gold
craze, and the earnestness and determination with which they
have entered upon their life of hardship, toil and often privation.
It is these women who are largely responsible for the high
morals observable in the mining camps in the Klondike region.
As said by Miss Fulcomer in the interview given above with her,
the morals of the Alaskan camps are in no sense to be compared
with those of the mining camps of Cahfornia in the days of the
excitement there. This in a measure is due to the fact that the
diggings are so remote and the journey to them is attended with
such hardship and danger, that the looser class are deterred from
threading the wilderness to the camps. Thus, only women of
nerve and enterprise, who have some legitimate purpose to sub-
serve, have thus far made the trip to the diggings.

If the gold excitement continues nobody contends that this
state of affairs will last, as it never has in former periods of min-
ing excitement. But thus far, on the Klondike, the women ad-
venturers have brought only romance, good morals, and comforts
to districts where they have been needed.

■Women as Promoters.

Scores of women, some of them good-looking and of seeming
refinement, have announced their willingness to marry anybody
in the shape of a miner who has made a lucky strike, and in
evidence of good faith have put their names and house addresses
on record. Others want to visit the Klondike as cooks, as .^
nurses, as domestics, in any capacity so long as they can get \
there without outlay for fare, and with prospect of big wages at
the end of the trip.

Women appear also as promoters of mining and development
projects. Some of them can talk intelligently about the country'
16

242 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

and its prospects, and have a convincing way of setting out their
propositions. One, a little keener than her competitors in the
hunt for the dollars of the public, has sprung a plan by which
stock may be paid for on the installment basis at the rate of
twenty-five cents a week a share. In the spring — most of these
good things are going to come off in the spring — experienced
prospectors will be grub-staked and sent into the Klondike to
look for a paying claim. The company has nothing as yet in the
way of assets save expectations,, but these are very big and
strong.

A midwife advertises for a partner to furnish money to open a
hospital in Dawson City. " On an investment of ;^5ooo," she
says, " I will guarantee a yearly income of ^50,000 sure, with
the chance of making double this."

Fictitious Klondike stocks, with the quotations regulated by
clock mechanism, have made their appearance in some of the
bucket shops frequented by women. It is simply the substitu-
tion of Klondike for the old names on the tape, but the gamesters
stake their money on the turns with as much eagerness as if the
figures were wired from a genuine stock exchange in Alaska,
and there is an observable spurt in the business. " If I can win
;^iooo here I'm going to the real Klondike just as quick as I
can," said one woman customer in a La Salle street shop. While
she was speaking a whirl of the wheel wiped out her margin, and
she hustled around to borrow car fare to pay her way home.

Mrs. John A. Logan Interested.

Early in August, 1897, Mrs. John A. Logan was asked to
become the president of an association of New York women
organized to send a business expedition to the Klondike. The
promoters of the enterprise were Mrs. Eliza P. Connor and Mrs.
S. W. McDonald, both newspaper workers. The aim of the

WOMEN AT THE MINES. 243

association was to send women to the Yukon. Mrs. Logan was
to attend to the work at the New York end of the line.

A Women's Klondike Syndicate was also organized about the
same time in New York. Miss Helen Varick Boswell was
president, and among the patronesses were Mrs. Jennie June
Croly, Laura Weare Walters, Des Moines, la.; Mrs Sarah E.j
Bierce, Cleveland ; Mrs. William Creighead, Dayton, O. ; and
Mrs. Sarah Thompson, Delaware, O.

"We expect to leave New York on March i, 1898," said
Mrs. McDonald, one of the officers, "and a Pullman sleeping
car, or two cars, if forty people join us, will be chartered from
New York to Seattle, and will be occupied exclusively by the
members of the expedition. Three meals a day will be furnished
on the cars and all fees and tips will be defrayed by the party.
The distance is 3310 miles, and we will make it in seven days.

Details of the Journey.

" From Seattle to Sitka, another thousand miles, we go by
steamer, and it will take us four days. From Sitka to Klondike
is an overland route of 700 miles. We will make a short stay
at Sitka in order to complete the outfit of the expedition, which
will be ordered by telegraph on leaving New York.

*' We may decide not to go over the Chilkat Pass, but to take
the Schwatka route instead ; we will decide that question at
Sitka. We will travel by caravans when we leave Sitka, where
the vans will have to be taken to pieces and carried on horseback
over the pass ; so will the tools and provisions.

" On the other side of the pass the vans will be refitted and
the journey continued as when leaving Sitka. When we reach
the lakes rafts will be built from timber on the banks and the
rafts will float people, horses and vans across. For u A^enty per-
sons there will be five vans, each with four horses, and three of

244 WOMEN AT THE MINES.

the vans will be fitted with portable sleepers to accommodate
seven persons each. The two other vans will be used for pro-
visions, with sleeping bunks in front. For those wishing to
sleep alone tents and army cots will be provided."

Romance of a Seamstress.

Mrs. Chester Adams, of Winlock, a small sawmill town in
Western Washington, has written a letter from Dawson City in
which she says that the steamer leaving there early in July for
St. Michael's carried ;^2,ooo,ooo in gold. She promised her
friends to write the truth about the Klondike stories that have
been printed telling of the great wealth of the Alaska gold
fields. Her letter confirms all that has been said, and Mrs.
Adams says half has not been told.

She went to Dawson City with a view to making a few hun-
dred dollars at dressmaking. In the first three days she cleared
up $go with her needle. She says she was the first woman
in the diggings that could fit a dress, and, while there are no
"bones " or " waist binding or canvas " or other articles about
which women know everything and which go into a dress, Mrs.
Adams says prices are kept up, ranging about as follows : Five
to ten dollars for a plain Mother Hubbard, six dollars to twelve
for an empress, eight dollars for a plain wool skirt, ten dollars to
an "ounce" for a waist. These prices are simply for making
the goods up, and Mrs. Adams says she and her partner have
more work than they can do.

CHAPTER VII.
F^t of the Sierras' Vision.

Rushes oflF to the Diggings at the First Report — Mining in '49 — Goes in to
Rough It — Carries His Own Pack, Pick and Pan — Will Hunt for a Good
Job — Coming Back With Bed-rock Facts — Contradicts Some Plorse
Stories — Schemes of the Pioneers — Not a Pistol in the Crowd — One Way
to Get Bear Meat— Recalls Other Big Strikes — On Mary Island— With
Father Duncan's Flock — No Jail Nor Police at Metlakahtia — Hay on
the Klondike — None Coming From Yukon — Frolic with Indian Children.

JOAQUIN MILLER, "the Poet of tne Sierras," known so
long and well to admirers on two continents by his 710111 de
plume that his real name, Cincinnatus Heine, has become
more obscure than another man's ^' alias," was one of the first
of the old California argonauts to catch the Klondike fever.

As a youth he was a miner in the rich placer beds and along
the gold-laden lodes of the Sierras, and again in 1 862 he was in
the rush to Salmon River, when Idaho and Montana were found
to be gold fields.

The news of the marvelous finds on the upper Yukon was
more than he could stand, and July 26th, little more than a week
after the arrival of the Portland with its golden store, found him
on board the steamer City of Mexico, upward bound for Juneau,
Dyea and the Klondike.

Goes In to Rough It.

In a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated enroute in the Gulf
of Georgia, the poet wrote of his Arctic quest and its object in
these words :

" I have been asked, as I have asked so many of our party,
what equipment I have for the route over to the mines, and you
may also want to know.

245

246 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

" Briefly, then, I have twenty pounds of bacon, twelve pounds
of hardtack, half a pound of tea. I have a heavy pair of blan-
kets, the heaviest socks, underclothing, boots, a rubber blanket,
a mackintosh, a pound of assorted nails, lOO feet of small rope,
a sail, and an ax. My pack is forty pounds all told. I have a
pocketknife and an iron cup, a thermometer, and iibout ;^ioo.

" I hope to build a raft, carry my own pack over all the places,
and travel hastily on rdicad and alone. You see I have spent
years alone in the mountains and have been in almost all the
' stampedes ' for the last forty years, and I know what I am
about.

** Of course, I am not doing this for fun, but for the informa-
tion of poor men who mean to go to the mines next spring.
This is what those who pay me to take this trip want and what
I have promised to do if it can be done without too much risk
of life or limb. I shall report exactly all the desired details as
I go along. I am to apply for work at the first mines I reach
and report exactly, work or not work, wages, hours of work —
ever/thing, in fact, that a man of small means needs to know.

Will Hunt for a Job.

" If I make this trip tnus equipped, find work and good wages
and all that sort of thing, why, any other man who wants to can
do it. For I am about fifty-five years old and a bit lame of the
leg. Of course I may have to change some of my plans, may
join a party and go down in a boat instead of on a raft, and so
on ; but I am going to ask for work at all events, get it if I can,
and do it, for I am an old miner and can do almost twice the
work of a new man. Certainly I can do more good just now in
that way than by describing clouds, snow peaks and Polar bears,
although, of course, I shall not all the time keep my face to the
earth, even though my feet do cleave solidly to it.

POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 247

" After having got right down to the bed-rock of the cold,
frozen facts, I shall take the steamer at Dawson and return
straight to San Francisco. So you see my forty pounds will be
about all I absolutely need. But the ' stayer ' will not follow
my example in this. Still, I am bound to say right here that it
do<:s not at this distance look like practical common sense
to waste so much time and strength in getting in supplies by this
land route when they are bringing thousands of tons by the
water route. However, I am sent out to tell of things as I find
them, and shall give plain facts, neither opinions nor advice.

'* More than all this, if I find the mines limited, either in area
or thickness, my first duty is to let the world know. I shall
write again when we get to Alaska, also again from the other
side, or base, of the so-called 'terrible pass.' But once launched
on the swift river and link of lakes flowing the other way, there
will be only a monthly mail. Yet, if we find anything of great
importance in the way of facts we will find some means of sending
it back. If we do not find plenty of faint-hearted fellows coming
back, even after crossing the mountains, it will not be in line
with other excitements from '49 up to this hour."

Refutes Some Horse Tales.

According to Miller, the stories that horses were not available
in crossing the mountains were not founded on fact, for he wrote
of there being many horses on the steamer, all intended for use
in going over Chilkoot Pass.

The poet was reminded, by some of the stories he heard at
Seattle and Victoria, of the men who discovered the Salmon
River mines m Idaho in 1 862, and who sent out runners and
posted notices to keep the people from rushing in and sharing
the treasure with the discoverers. " Starvation and intolerable
hardship" was the awsome argument used then, but history

248 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

recorded that nobody really starved, though a number perished
in the snow.

lie writes in this vein :

*' It would seem that those on the outside, as well as those en
the ' inside ' have been most willing if not eager to keep all new-
comers in the dark. The men who have horses and all sorts of
comfortable equipment are those who live along here — Seattle,
Port Townsend, and so on — and are more nearly in touch with
the inside. Frankly and truly, each day I come upon some sort
of evidence that those who know the most are playing the same
old game that we of the Idaho and Montana mines played a third
oi a century ago."

Not a Pistol in the Crowd.

The poet was struck by the wide difference, in bearing and
dress, between the gold-hunters of '49 and those of '97. When
he wrote he had not seen a pistol among the scores of men
aboard bound for the mines, though there were rifles and shot
guns in plenty, and he argued well from this for the figure the
prospectors would cut when they got into the diggings. **A
miner of to-day looks more like a bicyclist than a booted and
crimson shirted argonaut " was his happy way of expressing the
eminently peaceful appearance of his companions.

One passenger on the City of Mexico, a Californian, had an
outfit whose extremes were a frying pan and a gilt-edged copy
•5)f Shakespeare.

The poet pricks the starvation bubble thus neatly :

" One man returning from the mines told me this morning that
he always had to keep the bacon up on a high pole, and had tp
grease the pole, for the bears were so bad that they would tear
the cabin down, and even climb the pole if they could. Now, it
seems to me that while the bear up the pole was eating the bacon

POET OF THE SIERRAS* VISION. 249

a man of reasonable wisdom could get a little of the bear if
starving."

Though he disclaims any direct knowledge of the reputed
strikes, the poet cannot forbear some characteristic observations,
thus :

" You have no doubt read daily of great strikes. I will not
add to the fever by uttering what I have heard all along the line.
I am almost certain, however, that the mines arc immensely rich.
At the same time, let it be borne in mind that only a few millions
have been brought to light. True, only a few men have a hand
in the work as yet, but when I hear it said on all sides that these
are the richest mines ever found it sets me to looking b.ick. At
first in the Idaho mines about a dozen men in Baboon's Gulch
took out more gold and in less time than any dozen or so in the
Klondike. The Klondike has given up only ;^2,ooo,ooo or
;^3, 000,000, but Alden Gulch yielded more than ^100,000,000
from 1863 to 1873. The McGregor Company took out ;^ 2,000,000
in ninety days from Mount Gulch. They built a boat and took
it down the river to St. Louis armed with Winchesters.

" At the same time, the mines are so different and the means
of working the mines so difficult that they never could be worked
at all if not marvelously rich. No one ever heard before of ^^500^
;^8oD, or ;^iooo to the pan."

These notions of a veteran gold-seeker are at least worth con-
trasting with some of the awed ideas of "tenderfeet."

On Mary Island.

From Fort Wrangel, Alaska, Miller writes again to the Tribune
as follows :

" Mary Island, the place of customs and the postoffice, lies to
the left of this mighty river, so like the Columbia, so like the
Hudson, only ten times its size and impressiveness, and right

250 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

before us lies what the prospectors who come and go with us
call a mountain of gold. Men, especially an ex-Federal Judge
who is with us, say it is the richest piece of ground in the
world, and that the famous Treadwell Mine, with all its millions,
is but a babe in arms in comparison with this mountain of
quartz and gold that lies right in our path as we push on from
the Custom House toward the gold fields of the Klondike.

" But it is an Indian reservation, and the Indians, a community
under the leadership of a wise and good old Scotchman, known
as Father Duncan, are reputed to be by far the best and most
wise on the continent, and so the Government is loath to disturb
them. More than that, it is a point of honor to keep strict faith
with them, for they are guests of ours."

With Father Duncan's Flock.

Then he draws a pretty pen picture of this peaceful Indian
settlement, thus :

'' You see. Father Duncan had a difference with the Canadian
authorities about his converts, and begged the United States for
an island where his people could live apart from miners and
travelers with rum, tobacco and bad ways of other sorts, and as
he had a great and good name as a civilizer, we gave him the
island. This was in the early eighties. In the early nineties
gold was found all along the steep, starry new home of the
Indians from the tide wash to the snow that caps the peaks.

'' Many efforts and appeals to dislodge the Indians have been
made, but the Indians are so humble, and virtuous, and kindly
disposed that they are pretty safe unless a very incompetent man
comes to be at the head of this department at Washington. A
decision was rendered only quite recently entirely favorable to
these simple savages.

" Their little city, Metlakahtia, is fairer to see from afar oF

POET OF THE SIERRAS VISION. 251

as well as close at hand, than almost any city of the white man's
side ; clean streets, a church that is almost a cathedral in state-
liness, sidewalks, three or four fire companies, little houses for
hose and hook and ladder companies at several points ; in fact,
everything that the white man has except a jail, policemen and
politicians.

" * No,' said good Father Duncan with a smile, * we have no
need of either jail or police. As for politicians, we have no need
of them, and they, perhaps, have no need of us.' "

" The place is built and maintained on the co-operative plan,

and is certainly prosperous, for the people are pefectly content

and happy, and not one of the several hundred has any notion

of going to the mines. Let us take note of their condition

here."

Raising Hay on Klondike.

A miner who had spent several winters in Alaska took the
raw edge off the climate stories to the poet by telling him the
climate at the Klondike was the exact counterpart of that at
Metlakahtia. The old Alaskan added :

" They raise the best hay there I ever saw. I have seen
grass as high as my head there in June, and cattle driven in
from Juneau to Dawson are in better condition when they arrive
than when they are started from the trail."

Miller said he followed up the cattle story and found it true.

He found out something about the Chilkoot Pass, also, and this
is the way he puts it :

**And now for news, the newest news about the dread moun-
tain pass, which, according to all received accounts, was to be
undertaken only at the peril of life and limb. Well, men all
along here at the Indian villages and postoffices where we find
men to talk to, tell me that the true news was not one-quarter
as bad as published ; that last winter two mails were brought

252 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

this way by English mail-carriers and three by American mail-
carriers, making the monthly mail trips over the sky -scraping
glaciers and impassable pass as regularly then in the midwinter
as they make it now in the midsummer.

" More than this, Mr. White went, almost a month ago, to cut
a trail below and around the so-called death trap, and now it is
comfortable. It is three or four miles longer, but it is of easy
grade and a good, safe pack trail four feet wide.

"The first five miles is already a wagon road, so you see, as I
prophecied on leaving Seattle, there was a whole lot of big
stories told for the benefit of the far-off poor man who was try-
ing to get to the mines.

"The nearer we approach the less formidable are all the
obstacles before us. The walk of Jericho are already down and
we have not once trumpeted.

"Why, if this keeps on, in thirty days more we will enter the
Klondike country at Dawson in palace cars."

None Coming from Yukon.

Then, almost as he had penned the cheerful words, there
came a shock to him and all the other 497 souls on board the
City of Mexico. Let him tell it in his own graphic way as he
wrote it to the Saii Francisco Examiner :

"A strange, a pathetic scene took place a little time ago. In
the mildness of all this stillness, solitude, might and majesty of
nature, we met a steamer, the Alki, San Francisco, coming right
down upon us out of the clouds and snow. She had come from
Dyea, the nearest possible point for ships to the Mecca of all
good gold-hunting pilgrims. She came straight on as if to lake
us in her arms. Seeing that there was news and goo J njws for
all, she lay right alongside. The great ships groun 1 tlicir sides
together. Our eager gold-hunters came on the decks by liundreds.

POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 253

"News? News? What is the news from Klondike?

** Not the ghost of news from there, good or bad, thousands
had gone forward and down the great river Yukon, but not a
single one returned. A good sign, perhaps, but it was as if
questioning the dead. And they were so few and so reserved
and faint of speech and action, compared to our own great big-
hearted and open-handed men, begging for news from the gold
fields, that it was as if we had landed Charon's ship and de-
manded the secrets of his dead.

No Bacon nor Bread.

"Only one bit of news did they have to tell, and that was
doleful enough ; not a bit of bacon or bread at the trading posts
ahead of us ; and the Klondike, where there are plenty of sup-
plies at some price, away over Juneau, on and on, hundreds of
miles beyond the glittering mountains of snow before us. Men
looked each other in the face, for many of the miners in their
haste to get forward had brought no supplies at all, but expected
to outfit at the posts at the base of the mountains, and that is
why some will not sleep to-night. They will have to turn back
or wait for the traders' ships to come from far away.

" It would seem that more men have gone into the mines by
this mountain route than had been believed. Yet think how
many are coming. We hear that ships by the score had been
chartered and every berth taken in them by the time we were
setting out. They will be along here the next week or the next,
and likely enough lots of them, like some of our own boys, will
have no supplies at all. But then, of course, there can be no
suffering. There is plenty in the loads of the more provident,
and these waters are always open and ships go up and down all the
year. It is not like finding this state of things on the other side
of the mountain, but it may make delays for a number of bold.

254 POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION.

good men, who have neither patience nor money to spare."
The poet had a charming experience with some Indian chil-
dren on Mary Island. He wrote to the Examiner:

" I was walking out of the edge of town, trying to get a
knowledge of the place, when some children who saw me
almost up to my knees trying to get some jack-in-the-pulpit
plumes came to look and help if need be, perhaps. Seeing at
last what I wanted, they nimbly came into the brush and nettles
and elder bushes and got all I could hold in my two hands ; great
heaps of yellow, fragrant wild plumes, set off by red elder-
berries. Now, when I got my wild flowers well in hand I said :
' Thank you, my little lady ; now, what is your name ? '

Five Cents and Ten Cents.

** She was about seven or eight. She put her fat little hands
behind her, and, turning about a great deal, her eyes down to
the plank walk, where we now stood, she was silent. Then I
said again :

" * What is your name, my good little girl ? '

" She turned about a great deal more, with her eyes held to
the levels, and then said :

" ' Ten cents, ten cents.'

" I offered her ten cents, but she would not take it. Then I
offered her a quarter, but the little brown hands were in hiding
and would not come out, coax as I might. Then I turned to
another little girl, her sister, perhaps, and said :

•* ' What is your name, little girl ? '

" She was not so shy, but, lifting her tiny black eyes to mine
said :

" * Five cents, five cents.'

" I offered her the quarter, but she tried to dig her little big
toe into a crack in the plank, turning her bushy black head to

POET OF THE SIERRAS' VISION. 255

me, smiled, and tried to laugh a little, but she would not put out
her hand. When the whistle blew I hastened aboard the
steamer, they following at a little distance. Then, having a
moment to spare, I turned and said again :

" ' Now, pretty, what is your name? I like you and would
like to tell my friends about such a good little girl. Please,
now, what is your name ? '

" * Ten cents, ten cents,' she answered.

'' 'And her name ; what is your little sister's name ? '

" 'Five cents, five cents.'

" I laid some little bits of coin on a stump and ran away for
the steamer, and I reckon I never will know whether they
wanted money or not, but am inclined to believe their names
were Ten Cents Ten Cents and Five Cents Five Cents."

CHAPTER Vlli.
History and Purchase of Alaska.

One of the Happiest Deals Ever Made by American Statesmen — Seward's
Glory — His Prophecy on Retirii.g to Private Life Verified — Compara-
tively Few People in the Territory — Story of the Early Days of Russian
Occupation— The First Massacre — Country Once Offered to the United
States for Nothing — Appropriation for Money to Pay for the Tract
Opposed by Congress Bitterly — Efforts to Provide Country with a Gov-
ernment— Interior containing Gold Fields once thought Worthless was
Parceled Out in Thirds between as many Nations — Recent History.

LITTLE as is known of Alaska among the sisterhood of
countries having a place in history, its records go back
early into the Eighteenth Century and are more replete
with interest and romance, than most people suppose.

Its discovery was due to Peter the Great's craze for explora-
tion, and from the time Vitus Bering sailed by commission of
the Czar to find the fabled land of Vasco da Gama, to the days
when the Klondike fever broke out in its intensity and became
the talk of the world, it has ever, in some form or other, had
something of a conspicuous place in the public mind.

The purchase of this vast tract by the United States was one
of the happiest deals our statesmen have ever negotiated. The
country was bought from Russia in 1867 at the ridiculously low
figure of less than half a cent an acre. From the very outset
the investment has been a paying one, as is clearly shown by
Dr. Ball's figures.

Alaska paid a net profit of eight per cent, on the purchase
price during the first five years it was owned by the United
States. The government leased two tiny seal islands, which
alone paid four per cent, on the original cost of the entire terri-
tory, which was ;^7, 200,000.

256

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 257

In addition to the profit returned by the fisheries and the seal
islands and the mining of baser metals, the output of the gold
mines before ever Klondike was thought of, yielded to the
United States a sum far greater ^han the purchase price. As an
indication of the profit of the fisheries it may be pointed out
that in six years, from 1884 to 1890, the salmon industry
alone yielded ;^7, 500,000.

Few There to Work.

In considering these figures relative to the profits of this great
and virtually unknown country, it must be borne in mind, that it
is one of the most sparsely settled regions in the world. In
1 893 there was but one inhabitant to each nineteen square miles.
Thus far in the history of our country it has been a territory
practically without a government, and only of late, since the gold
fever broke out, has the general public given it much attention.
A review of its history therefore will be acceptable to the reader.

It was in 1728 that Vitus Bering discovered the straits sepa-
rating Asia and America, and it was in 1 74 1 that he started out
to find the fabled land. He had two vessels on this journey
which were separated in a storm about the latitude of 46 degrees
north. Bering sailed northeast and reached Kayak Island on
St. Elias Day, July 17, 174 1.

There he saw and named the great mountain, touched at the
Shumagins, and was wrecked on the Comandorski Islands.
There, too, the commander died. But the scurvy-stricken crew
survived and reached Kamschatka, with the pelts of the sea otter
on whose flesh they had lived. The sight of these furs stimu-
lated traders, and from that day on Alaska had something of an
interest for the Russians.

Tschirikow reached the coast near Sitka and sent a boat's
crew to explore the bay. The party spent six days in recon-
17

258 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

noitering and at the end of that time a search party was sent
after them. The natives at this time were defiant and paddled
out to the ship, and raised such a din on shore as probably was
never equaled in the region. .

Gregory Shelikoff, a rich Siberian merchant, was practically
the first to establish a regular post in the country. This was
done in 1783, on Kadiak Island. A regular trade was then
established with the Russians in Siberia. Baranof pushed his
enterprise also when he started it in May, 1 799, in every pos-
sible way. He reached Sitka Sound and built a stockaded post
three miles north of where the present city of Sitka stands. An
imperial charter, with monopoly of the American possessions for
twenty years, was also obtained by Resanol, the son-in-law of
Shelikoff, and Baranof now became the virtual head of the Rus-
sian-American Fur Company, in which eventually nine rival
Siberian firms were consolidated. In this great concern several
members of the Imperial family were stockholders.

The First Massacre.

Such was the discovery of Alaska, and such the founding of
its capital, Sitka. The old fort at Sitka was destroyed in 1802,
and all, save a few Russians, who found refuge on a British trading
ship, were murdered. At the time of the calamity Baranof was
absent, but he returned two years later, in the month of August,
with 800 Aleut and Chugach hunters. At the sight of Baranof
and his band the Indians, who had murdered the Russians, fled,
and, retreating thVough the country, destroyed villages wherever
they came upon them.

Soon afterward, Baranof contemplated building a fort on the
Columbia, but, through Resanof, he opened trade with the
Spanish colonies in California. Resanof, whose wife had died,
paid court to Donna Concepcion Argeuello, daughter of the Al-

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 259

cade of San Francisco Bay. They were betrothed, and it was
while on his way to St. Petersburg to obtain the Czar's consent
to their marriage that Resanof died in Siberia.

It was about this time in the history of Alaska that the Fur
King, John Jacob Astor, began to figure. Baranof was sus
picious of him and his many ships, and distrusted the New York
trader's offer of a permanent alliance of interest.

It is worthy of note here that Baranof was the first man to

attempt agriculture in this barren region. He established a

regular agricultural colony. He was popular among the natives,

who uniformiy called him " Master," and apparently none of the

Russian governors of the country after him were quite so acceptable

to the Indians.

Emperor Nicholas' Offer.

American interest in Alaska, of course, dates from the negotia-
tions which terminated in the purchase of the country. The
Emperor Nicholas always had a warm spot in his heart for the
American nation, and in 1844 he offered to the United States the
entire Alaskan territory for the mere cost of transfer, if President
Polk would maintain the United States line at 54 degrees and 40
minutes and thus shut out England entirely from frontage on the
Pacific. This generous offer, however, was not accepted, owing
to diplomatic considerations.

Again, in 1854, the country was offered to the United States,
and still again in 1859, when ;^5,ooo,ooo was refused. From
1 86 1 to 1866 surveying parties traversed a good portion of
Southern Alaska, choosing a route for a telegraph line to Europe,
via Behring Strait. The success, however, of the Atlantic cable
in 1866, after the failure in 1859, ended this project, and the
cable line to the west was abandoned.

Then, seeing that the government evinced so little interest in
the great country to the north, about whose resources there was

260 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

a great difference of opinion, a California commercial syndicate
proposed to lease and then purchase the entire country in 1864,
and still again in 1866. This project went so far as to receive
serious consideration at St. Petersburg.

It was at this time that Secretary Seward took up the matter
of the purchase of Alaska. Seward always deeply appreciated
Russia's tacit alliance in sending its fleets to the harbors of San
Francisco and New York in 1863, and keeping them there at
that critical time, when France and England were on the point
of recognizing the Richmond government. This sense of grati-
tude on the part of Seward is, in a sense, responsible for our
possession of Alaska and its priceless gold fields to-day.

When the Czar intimated that he wished to sell Russian
America to any nation, excepting England, Secretary Seward
entered into negotiations with Baron Stoeckl in February, i Z6y.
The following March a treaty of purchase was sent to the Senate.
This was reported on April 9th, was ratified on May 28th by 30
yeas to 2 nays and was proclaimed by President Johnson on June
20, 1867.

To Senator Charles Sumner is due the honor of giving the
permanent name to Alaska. This, as was shown in a previous
chapter, is simply the corruption of the Indian word meaning
*' great country." But the natives gave the name to Captain
Cook, and Sumner apparently chose the name from its connection
with the explorer, whom he admired.

Honor for Garfiield.

It is also an interesting fact that the intention was to make
General Garfield, one of the martyr Presidents, the first governor
of the territory. It was further proposed to divide the great
tract purchased into six territories. All these schemes, however,
fell through.

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 261

Immediately upon the purchase of the country military occu-
pation was decided upon. General Lovell H. Rousseau, as
commissioner on the part of the United States, and Captains
Pestschouroff and Koskul, on the part of Russia, met at Sitka
on October i8, 1867. Three men-of-war, the Ossipee, the James-
town and the Resaca, and General Jefferson C. Davis and 250
regular troops were in waiting.

At half-past three o'clock that afternoon, Maksoukoff and vice*
governor Gardisoff and the commissioners met the United States
officers at the foot of the governor's flag-staff. The formality of
transfer was short and simple. The men-of-war fired a double
national salute, as did also the land battery. The Russian flag
was lowered and the American flag was raised, and the country
which has proved thus far such a source of wealth, and which
promises to be the most prolific gold bearing region in the world,
was American property. The only speech recorded as having
been made at the time was that of Captain Pestschouroff, who
said, as he advanced and the Russian flag fell :

" General Rousseau, by authority of His Majesty, the Em-
peror of all the Russians, I transfer to you, the agent of the
United States, all the territory and dominion now possessed by
His Majesty on the continent of America and in the adjacent
islands, according to a treaty made between those two powers."

Territory is Accepted.

General Rousseau, metaphorically speaking, accepted the
gigantic territory, and his little son slowly raised the new flag.
Following this formal tender and acceptance. Prince Makasoukofl
gave a dinner and ball. The ships were dressed in bunting, and
there was a display of pyrotechnics.

That day ended all Russian dominion in the western conti-
nent, and there was an immediate exodus of all Russians who

262 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

were able to leave the country. The Russian Government soon
offered its subjects free transportation across the Pacific to the
Amoor settlements, and within a comparatively short time there
was scarcely a Russian to be seen on Alaskan territory.

This transfer of the country resulted almost immediately in
an important change. The Russians used the Julian calendar,
and this gave way to the Gregorian calendar, and a day was
dropped from the Sitkan records, to correct the difference of
twenty-four hours between the Russian day, coming eastward
from Moscow, and our day, going westward from Greenwich.

Soon after the American occupation of the land scientists
began to evince an interest in the country and, during the
summer of i ^6^^ Prof. George Davidson and eight other eminent
specialists made a tour of investigation of southeastern Alaska.
It is an interesting fact that their report and Senator Sumner's
speech were the two strong arguments Secretary Seward offered
for the purchase of Alaska in " Russian America."

Appropriation was Opposed.

Despite the fact that this valuable tract of land was purchased
for half a cent an acre, there was the bitterest opposition to the
appropriation of ;^7,200,ooo in gold, equal to about ;^ 10,000,000
in paper at that time, to pay for the territory. It was not till
July 14, 1868, that the House agreed by vote of 98 to 49, and
the draft was handed to Baron Stoeckl.

As in most great government deals, the cry of corruption was
raised, and it was alleged that there had been misappropriations
and private gain in the negotiations. As it has been put relative
to this alleged corruption, there was a "winter of investigation
following a winter of contest and ridicule."

Connected with the purchase and early occupation of the
country some pleasant reminiscences are recorded. Mr. Seward,

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 263

returning to the United States by way of Kootznahoo, visitfed
the country and addressed the citizens in the Lutheran Church
at Sitka. He made a trip to the Taku glacier, visited the min-
ing camps of the Stikine River and Fort Wrangel, and, as he
afterwards expressed himself, was convinced of the wisdom of
his course in purchasing the country from Russia.

Lady Franklin, too, visited Sitka in 1870, going there on the
troop-ship Newbern, and, with her niece, Miss Cracroft, was the
guest of the Commandant on the Kekoor. The following year
the discovery of gold caused excitement to the garrison life, and
the army pay vouchers were sunk in mining experiments at
Sitka. The efforts then made, however, were as profitless as
were those made at Juneau ten years later.

Garrison is Withdrawn.

On June 14, 1877, the last garrison of United States troops
left Sitka, and the control of the military department over
Alaskan affairs came to an end. It was but a few months there-
after that the Indians had destroyed all the government property
outside the stockade. They threatened a general massacre, and
appeals were sent to Washington for protection. This cry for
help, however, was unheeded.

The residents at the stockade were besieged in the old fur
warehouse. A last desperate appeal came from Victoria, and
finally Captain Holmes A' Court hurried to their relief, without
orders or instructions. But for this act of bravery and assump-
tion of responsibility, it is probable there would have been a
general massacre of all the Americans then living in Sitka.

From that time a man-of-war has constantly been stationed in
southeastern Alaska, and the commanding officers have virtually
been naval governors of the place.

Between the time of the transfer of the country from Russia

264 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

to the United States and of the passage of Senator Harrison's
bill, May 13, 1884, which gave the nondescript tract a skeleton
of civil government, thirty bills aiming to provide some form of
government for Alaska were introduced. The Harrison bill
finally passed, and gave to the country a governor, a district
judge, a marshall, a clerk and a board of commissioners, with
right to enter mineral claims, but distinctly withholding the
general land laws.

In 1867 the Russian archives, manuscript journals, records,
logs and account books were transferred from Sitka to the State
Department at Washington. These, with Tikhmenieff' s history
of the colony, are among the most interesting relics of the
country in our possession.

Some Account of Sitka.

A word may here be said about Sitka, the capital and seat of
government of the territory of Alaska. It is situated on the
west coast of Baranof Island. It is described as the merest
apology for a town, but it, of course, has a certain importance,
owing to the fact that it is the official residence of the governor
and other officers appointed by the United States. Ten years
ago it had a population of about 1000, of whom only 295 were
whites.

The town is built on a level stretch of land at the mouth of
the Indian River. Its main street is named after Lincoln, and
extends from the government fort to the old Russian sawmill
and the Governor's Walk, which is a beach road built by the
Russians. Fronting the harbor is a large parade ground. Con-
spicuous among the buildings is the so-called castle, which was
mentioned in Chapter V. Here, as everywhere in Alaska, the
traveler will find an interesting display of Alaskan totem poles.

One interesting building in Sitka should not be passed by with-

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 265

out mention. This is the old log structure next to the Custom
House, occupied by the Sitka Trading Company. It was at one
time the old fur warehouse, and many a time in its history it has
held pelts to the value of ;^ 1,000,000.

Following the transfer of Alaska to the United States several
grave international questions arose. Among these was that of
the international boundary line. This matter really runs back
to quite an early period. Succeeding the Nookta Convention of
1 790, the Northwest Coast became what is termed virgin soil,
open to free settlement and trade by any people. As a result
three nations claimed it.

The Russians asserted ownership as far down as the Columbia.
Then they withdrew to the fifty-first degree, or approximately to
the north end of Vancouver Island. The British Government
laid claim to the coast from the Columbia River to the fifty-
second degree ; and the United States to everything west of the
Rocky Mountains, between forty-two degrees and fifty-four
degrees fort}^ minutes.

Treaty of Occupation.

Then the United States and Great Britain, in order to avoid com-
plications, agreed in 18 18 to a joint occupancy of the region. In
1 8 19 the United States bought Florida from Spain, and with it
acquired all the Spanish rights and claims on the coast north of
the forty-second degree. As a matter of fact, the United States
was nov/ virtually in possession of the region. Still the British fur
traders were pushing westward from the interior and there was
likelihood at any time of trouble.

Two years later, in 1821, the Emperor of Russia took a hand
in the matter, and by his ukase forbade all foreign vessels from
approaching within 100 Italian miles of his possessions in the
Pacific Ocean. This brought about the conventions of 1874

266 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

and 1875 to adjust the rival claims to North American territory
and to regulate the trade relations. A treaty was formed with
the United States in 1824, and in 1825 a somewhat similar
treaty with Great Britain. Russia then agreed to 54 degrees
and 40 minutes as the southern limit of her possessions,
and allowed the vessels of the other two nations to trade freely,
V ithout let or hinderance, for the period of ten years.

Interior Thought Worthless.

At that time the interior, which, of late, has given such
promise as a gold producing country, was uninhabited, and
indeed wholly unknown, except to the fur trader. Its resources
were not suspected, and it was deemed practically worthless. It
was parceled out in even thirds. Russia took that part to the
northwest, or what is commonly called the Yukon region.
England took the Mackenzie region, and all the country between
Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains. The Oregon territory,
that is, all west of the Rockies and north of 42 degrees fell
to the United States.

Four years later an agreement was made between the United
States and Great Britain, by which the occupancy of the North-
west coast was indefinitely extended.

President Tyler, in his annual message to Congress in 1843,
declared that the United States' rights appertained to all between
42 degrees and 54 degrees 40 minutes. At that time slave
interests were being negotiated relative to Texas. To gain
the State without interference, Calhoun was discussing a
settlement with the British Minister, with the forty-ninth parallel
as the Oregon boundary.

The British Minister, however, rejected the proposition as his
predecessor had done in 1807, when Jefferson had made pio-
posals on practically the same lines.

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA: 267

Then arose the so-called " Fifty-four Forty '* fight. These
words became a political slogan, and Polk was elected as the
champion of the cause. Polk took occasion in his inaugural
message to say : " Our title to the country of Oregon is clear
and unquestionable." and in his first message he reiterated the
statement : "All of Oregon or none."

" The boundary question has been fought over time and again
and it may be well in this connection to give the exact words of
the treaties of 1884 and 1885, by which the Russian possessions
are defined :

" Commencing from the southernmost point of the island,
called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in a parallel of
54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between 131 and 133
degrees of west longitude (meridian of Greenwich), the said line
shall ascend the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the '
point of the continent where it strikes 56 degrees of north lati-
tude ; from this last mentioned point the line of demarkation
shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the
coast as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west
longitude (of the same meridian) ; and finally from the said
point of intersection the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its
prolongation as far as the Frozen Ocean.

The Boundary Line.

" With reference to the line of demarkation laid down in the
preceding article it is understood (i) that the island called Prince
of Wales Island shall belong wholly to Russia (now by this
session to the United States). (2) That whenever the summit
of the mountains, which extend in a direction parallel to the coats
from 56 degrees of north latitude to the point of intersection of
141 degrees of west longitude, shall prove to be of the distance
of more than three marine leagues from the ocean, the limit be-

268

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

tween the British possessions and the line of coast which is to
belong to Russia, as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit of
the possessions ceded by this convention), shall be formed by a
line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never
exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom.

It is an item of historical interest that, for the last twenty-eight

KILLING SEALS ON ST. PAUL ISLAND.

years of Russian ownership of Alaska, the thirty mile strip, as it
was called, was leased to the Hudson Bay Company, which paid an
annual rental for the territory which Canada now claims as her own..
Dr. G. M. Dawson, of the Dominion Geological Survey, in
1887 and 1888 invented a new map showing the boundary line
claimed by his government, as drawn by Major-General R. D.
Cameron. This narrows the thirty-mile strip to five miles in
some places, and absorbs it entirely as part of British Columbia
in others.

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 269

This Cameron line includes all of Glacier Bay, Lynn Canal,
and Taku Inlet. It also incorporates all of the Stikine River,
and, ignoring the channel known as Portland Channel, it strike*
to tide water at the head of Burroughs Bay, and follows Behm
Canal and Clarence Strait to Dixon Entrance.

By this map Canada lays claim to a large strip of territory
about which there has been the bitterest contention, among other
spots, the island which the United States used for a military post
and then for a custom house for twenty years, and even Mary
Island, where the United States Custom House now stands.

Claiming all the Alaska coast up to 56 degree by this arrange-
ment, the late Sir John Robson, premier of British Columbia,
even suggested that the United States yield up the small remain-
ing strip of mainland between 56 degree and St. Elias, for cer-
tain concessions in sealing matters.

It is to be noted that all Canadian maps are now drawn ac-
cording to the Cameron line, and, that Canadians, realizing the
advantages of possessing this territory, are loud in their assertion
of claims about which apparently the United States is apathetic.

Russians Find Gold.

Apropos of the Klondike gold fields one recalls the fact that
it was the discovery of gold that awakened the Russians' interest
in 1862. The leasing of the thirty-mile strip to the Hudson
Bay Company did away with the necessity of precisely marking
a boundary line. The Russians showed very little interest in the
matter until the gold discovery.

It was incorporated in the Russian-American Company's lease
that all mineral land should belong to the Crown, and following
Ihe report of the discovery of gold, the Czar ordered Admiral
Popoff to send a corvette from Jaoan to see if the British miners
were on Russian soil. Possibly his Imperial Majesty had in

270 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

mind some tax similar to that which Canada has recently imposed
upon all the American miners in the Klondike regions.

Apropos of the boundary quarrel San Juan Island nearly
caused a war between Great Britain and the United States.
According to the Oregon Treaty of June 5, 1846, both countries
claimed ownership. The treaty did not specify whether the
boundary line should pass through Canal de Haro or Rosario
Strait. As a result, James Douglass and Governor Isaac Stevens
both claimed jurisdiction of the island.

The matter came to an issue in consequence of petty quarrels.
An American citizen shot a British pig, the owner of which did
not think that ;^ 100 was an equivalent. Sentiment waxed hot
over the matter. The sheriff of Whatcom County sold Hudson
Bay Company sheep for taxes. General Harney dispatched
troops to the scene of trouble and established a military post on
one end of the island in 1859. T^^^s was just about the time the
British and American Boundary Commissioners had begun their
work of peaceable settlement.

War Ship on Guard.

A British war ship was stationed guard. The garrison was
increased and General Scott came from Washington and offered
joint occupation until the boundary line should be definitely de-
cided. For two years a company of United States soldiers held
the southern end of the island and an equal number of British
blue jackets the northern point. The two garrisons had as
pleasant a time as the circumstances would permit, exchanging
visits and entertaining each other as best they could.

Then came the treaty of Washington in 1871. The Emperof
of Germany as arbitrator decided that de Haro was the main
channel and the water boundary. In obedience to this decision,
the British withdrew in November, 1872, carefully replanting

HISIORY AND PURCHASE OK ALASKA. 271

gardens and leaving everything as nearly as possible as they
found it.

San Juan, by the way, is an important point, commanding the
straits, and its thousand-feet-high hill makes one of the most
effective batteries in the world. As might be expected, the
diplomats who had the settling of this controversy split hairs,
the representatives of each country doing their best to secure
permanent right to the important military point. The importance
placed Upon this island by the British may be gleaned from these
words of Lord Russell :

" San Juan is a defensive position in the hands of Great
Britain. It is an aggressive position in the hands of the United
States. The United States may fairly be called upon to renounce
aggression, but Great Britain can hardly be expected to abandon
defense."

Mr. Seward's Glory.

The discovery of gold on the Yukon in 1897, and the exodus
of people from the southern States into the wilderness to seek
their fortunes, recalls the words of Secretary Seward, and. con-
fiims their wisdom. A public dinner was given him on retire-
ment to private life, and in the course of the evening the question
was asked him :

"Mr. Seward, what do you consider the most important act
of your official life ? "

"Sir," said the secretary, without a moment's hesitation, "I
think the purchase of Alaska was by far the most important
official act of my life. It will take two generations, however, for
the public to appreciate the value of this purchase."

The old statesman was right. It has taken two generations
and the world is now convinced of the truth of Seward's words.
It may safely be said that it was Seward's crowning glory to add
to his country's domain a new empire of such vast extent and of

272 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

such untold wealth. An empire whose very name signifies
great country or continent, and whose mountains are supposed
to hold the mother lode of the gold supply of America.

Early last August when the gold fever was at its height the
boundary question naturally came up again, especially in Cana-
dian circles. R. W. Scott, Secretary of State, at Ottawa, Ontario,
was then interviewed regarding the statement from Washington,
which claimed that Great Britain, in its official maps, had drawn
the boundary line on the Pacific coast so as to deprive the
United States of hundreds of miles of territory adjoining the
Klondike regions.

He said he had gone into the question when a member of the
Mackenzie administration in 1878, and the point now raised was
discussed then.

" The treaty of St. Petersburg of 1825," said he, " defines the
line dividing Russian territory, now Alaska, from British by a
line drawn north from the foot of Prince of Wales Island
throug'h Portland channel until it struck the mountains, when
the method of delimitation was set forth.

" The map will show that a line running north from the foot
of Prince of Wales Island must go through the Behm Canal,
and that to reach Portland Canal the line would have to go east
through the open sea a considerable distance before it could
reach Portland channel or canal.

The British Contention.

" The British contention as shown by the dispatches of George
Canning to Sir Charles Bagot, when British Ambassador at St.
Petersburg, is that Portland Canal was to be in British territory
and that the words ' Portland Canal ' in the convention was a
mistake for ' Behm Canal,' or else that what is now called Port-
land Canal was not then so called.

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 273

This is supported by the physical impossibility of running a
line due north through Portland Canal from the foot of Prince
of Wales Island, so that Canadian maps show the boundary line
as running north through the Behm Canal. The difference is
great in view of the discoveries of gold, and it can only be
settled by an international arbitration.

" The disputed territory with the ten marine leagues back
from the coast added would not, however, embrace the present
gold fields of the Klondike, which are clearly in British territory,
because they are well east of the one hundred and forty-first
meridian, which is the recognized boundary to the north."

Dispute Will Not Down.

The claim of Great Britain to a big share of Alaska promises,
on account of the gold fields, to occupy a large amount of pub-
lic attention for years to come, and it will be of interest to the
reader to have the opinion of Secretary Scott, the Canadian
representative in the matter, offset by that of an American who
can speak as one having authority. The British claim is
regarded by American officials in general as preposterous, and
it will likely cause grave diplomatic complications between the
United States and Great Britain.

The Senate, before which the boundary question was brought
as the outcome of a treaty negotiated by Secretary Olney and
Sir Julian Pauncefote, did not place itself on record in the matter.
Before a vote was taken Congress adjourned, so that the location
of the divisional line, which has been in dispute since 1884, is no
nearer settlement than it has been at any period in the last
thirteen years.

General Duffield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, was a member of the boundary commission. The sur-
vey authorized by it has until of late been deemed official. The
18

274 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

following statement, therefore, from General Duffield is of value :
*' Up to 1884 both countries were practically united as to the
boundary line from Mount St. Elias to the southeast. Accord-
ing to the terms of the treaty between Russia and Great Britain,
the United States in purchasing Alaska in 1867 acquired all of
Russia's rights. In describing the southeastern boundary the
Russian treaty read :

** The line of demarcation between the possessions of the high
contracting parties upon the coast of the continent and the islands
of America to the northwest shall be drawn in the following
manner : Commencing from the southernmost point of the land
called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of
54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude and between the 1 3 ist degree
and the 133d degree of west longitude, the same line shall ascend
north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the
point of the continent, where it strikes 56 degrees of north latitude.

Fixing Landmarks.

" From this last mentioned point the line of demarcation shall
follow the summit of the mountain situated parallel to the coast,
as far as the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longi-
tude of the same meridian, and finally from the said point of
intersection, the said meridian line of 141 degrees in its prolongation
as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Rus-
sian and British possessions on the continent of America to the
northwest.

"Wherever the summit of the mountains, which extend in a
direction parallel to the coast from 56 degrees north latitude to
the point of intersection of 141 degrees of west longitude, shall
prove to be a distance of more than ten marine leagues from the
ocean, the limit between the British possessions and the line of
coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned, shall be

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 275

formed by a line parallel to the widening of the coast and which
shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom.

"On all maps from 1825 down to 1884 the boundary line has
been shown as in general terms parallel to the winding of the
coast and thirty-five miles from it. In 1884, however, an official
Canadian map showed a marked deflection in this line at its south
end. Instead of passing up Portland Channel this Canadian map
showed the boundary as passing up Behm Canal, an arm of the sea
some sixty or seventy miles west of Portland Channel, this change
having been made on the bare assertion that the words ' Portland
Canal,' as inserted, were erroneous.

By this change an area of American territory, about equal in
size to the State of Connecticut, was transferred to British terri-
tory. There are three facts which go to show that this map was
incorrect. In the first place, the British Admiralty, when survey-
ing the northern limit of the British Columbian possessions in
1868, one year after the cession of Alaska, surveyed Portland
canal, and not Behm Canal, and thus, by implication, admitted
this canal to be the boundary line.

Second, the region now claimed by British Columbia was at
that time occupied as a military post of the United States with-
out objection or protest on the part of British Columbia. Third,
Annete Island, in this region, was, by Act of Congress four years
ago, set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlektala
Indians, who sought asylum under the American flag to escape
annoyances experienced under the British flag.

* Another Change Made.

"Another change was made at Lynn Canal, the northernmost
extension of the Alexander Archipelago, which runs north of
Juneau, and is the land outlet of the Yukon trade. If the offi-
cial Canadian map of 1884 carried the boundary line around the

276 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

head of this canal another Canadian map, three years later, car-
ried the line across the head of the canal in such a manner as to
throw its headwaters into British territory. Still later Canadian
maps carry the line, not across the head of the canal, but across
neaf its mouth, some sixty or seventy miles south of the former
line, in such a way as practically to take in Juneau, or at least all
overland immediately back of it. And the very latest Canadian
map, published at Ottawa within a few days, while it runs no line
at all southeast of Alaska, prints the legend ' British Columbia,'
over portions of the Lynn Canal which are now administered by
the United States."

A report was made early in 1897 by United States surveyors
as to the boundary line in dispute. It said :

Effect of Determinations.

" These determinations threw the diggings at the mouth of
Forty-Mile Creek within the territory of the United States. The
whole valley of Birch Creek, another most valuable gold-pro-
ducing part of the country, is also in the United States. Most
of the gold is to the west of the crossing of the 141st meridian
at Forty-Mile Creek. If we produce the 141st meridian on a
chart the mouth of Miller's Creek, a tributary of Sixty-Mile
Creek, and a valuable gold region, is five miles west in a direct
line or seven miles, according to the winding of the stream — all
within the territory of the United States. In substance the only
places in the Yukon region where gold in quantity has been
found are, therefore, all to the west of the boundary line between
Canada and the United States."

It can readily be seen that the. claim of the United States is
directly opposed to that of the Canadians. It is true that the
arbitration of the 141st meridian was favored by the United
States surveyors, but some of them were angered at the claims

HISTORY AND PURCHA'SE OF ALASKA. 277

of the English in regard to Lynn Creek and the whole south-
eastern boundary, and expressed the belief that the United States
would refuse to arbitrate the claims of this portion of the boundary.

An interesting chapter of Alaskan history is now making, and
the prospect is that in the near future the name of Lincoln will
be given to a territory or state in the great northwest, as that of
Washington was some years ago. There are enthusiastic advo-
cates of the movement who think the proposed territory will
eventually become a sovereign, if not the banner state of the
Union. Any account of the history of Alaska, therefore, should
include this possibility by anticipation.

Long before the great gold discoveries in the Klondike region
of the Northwest Territory became known ;. movement was
quietly inaugurated to divide the great Territory of Alaska. In
May active work was begun and the project is now ready for
public attention.

Petitions for division are now in circulation in the interior
along the Yukon River, and in all the mining camps, and should
reach Washington early in September. The name of Lincoln
for the new territory met with a quick response on the part of
the hardy miners, who are delighted with the prospect of a
territorial form of government that will give them direct govern-
mental supervision, land laws and titles, and some incentive to
good citizenship.

Recognition of Russia.

When the purchase was made it was construed by the admin-
istration papers as an act of courteous recognition of Russia's
friendship in the civil war, it being remembered that a Russian
fleet of three vessels appeared in New York harbor during the
excitement over the Trent affair, when it looked as if war with
Great Britain was certain to result. It was said at the time —
and is still maintained in diplomatic circles — that the Russian

278 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

admiral had sealed orders, which directed him, in case of war
between the United States and Great Britain, to announce
Russia's alliance with America, and proceed to capture any
British vessel possible.

How much the purchase of Alaska served as an expression of
our gratitude for Russia's assistance at a critical period no one
accurately knows. ' The " true inwardness " of the transaction
was kept under cover for diplomatic reasons, but it pleased Great
Britain as much then as the developments of the seal fishing
controversy, and the uncertainty of the boundary line, at the
present date.

In fact, the "national iceberg," as it was termed in 1867, has
been from the beginning a torrid source of unpleasantness
between the two great nations of the English speaking tongue.

Early Day Statistics.

When Alaska was annexed the population was stated by the
Russian missionaries at 33,426, of whom "but 430 were whites.
The mixed race — termed Creoles — counted 1756, and were the
practical leaders, using the Indian tribes for hunting and fishing.
Fur trade and the fisheries were at that time the only known
resources. As early as 1880, however, the sea otters shipped
represented a value of ;^6oo,ooo, the fur seals over $ i ,000,000,
the land furs ;g 80,000, and the fisheries from ;^ 12,000 to ;^ 15,000.

Mineral riches were hinted at by the early explorers. In 1885
the Director of the Mint credited Alaska with ;^ 3 00, 000 in gold
;^2000 in silver, the chief contributor being the Alaska mill at
Douglas City. In 1896 the gold product reached ;^ 1,948, 900,
showing a gain over 1895 equal to ;^ 3 86, 100. For 1897 the
gold output is placed by good judges at not less than ;g 10,000,-
000, which is nearly twice that of Colorado in 1892.

Small lots of smelting ore — from which some silver is recov-

HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA. 27^

ered — ^are shipped to Tacoma for treatment, but the main pro-
ducers are the large mills on Douglass Island, equipped with
stamps, concentrators, and modern appliances for saving gold
values. The grade of the quartz mined and worked, as early as
1892, showed an average value of ;^2.42 per ton. This material
is taken from an immense quarry, which has none of the marks
of a glacial deposit. The exposure of the quarry by glacial
action is entirely probable.

What will be Left to Alaska.

After the division there will be left to Alaska all of the terri-
tory along the Northern Pacific sea coast and the Aleutian
Islands. This includes all the agricultural lands in Alaska and
that part of the territory which enjoys a comparatively mild and
equitable climate on account of the well-known influences of the
Japan current. The proposed Territory of Lincoln will embrace
within its boundaries the valleys of the great Yukon River and
its tributaries and the coast along Behring Sea.

The city of Weare, at the mouth of the Tanana River, 800
miles from the sea, and on the Yukon River, as shown on the
map, will be named in the act as the seat of government of the
new territory. Tributary to the capital on all sides will be the
great placer mining gold fields.

The influx of population into these gold fields is so great that
the residents of the interior of the present Alaska, and all who
have investments there, are unanimous in their demands for such
recognition from the Government as will give them protection to
life and property. They are ready for the active development of
a rich, great country, too long kept closed.

There are mines of gold, copper, coal, iron, silver, and lead
within the proposed Territory of Lincoln, and to these must be
added the recently discovered rich oil fields.

280 HISTORY AND PURCHASE OF ALASKA.

Organization will immediately follow the territorial creation,
and it is likely '*the delegate from Lincoln " will soon be recog-
nized in Congress. He will be on an equal footing with delegates
from other territories, and will have a voice in argument, but no
vote on roll-call.

There is political significance, too, to the movement that, in
the eyes of many, is of great importance.

" The people of Sitka have little time and less inclination to
ati-end to the affairs of the interior of Alaska," is the complaint
that is most often heard.

The new division will give to Alaska the coast trade, the great
quartz mines of Douglas Island, and all the land in the territory
at present known to be adaptable to agricultural purposes — in
round numbers 80,000 square miles. The Territory of Lincoln
will comprise 500,000 square miles of the interior and northern
coast country.

It is a reasonable supposition that a great deal of wealth will
be taken out of these gold fields, and it should not be forgotten
that the Canadians and their Government are vigorously extend-
ing their settlements and their sphere of influence north and
west of British Columbia. A subsidy of ;^ 1 1 ,000 a mile is about
to be given to a railway branching northward from the Canadian
Pacific for over 200 miles, which is to be constructed with a view
to open up that portion of British Columbia and drawing to it
from the interior of Southeastern Alaska whatever trade may
develop in that region. The American Government will at least
be careful that its political rights and territorial jurisdiction are
carefully guarded, in order that the enterprise of its people may
have safe opportunity for achievement.

CHAPTER IX.
Topography,

Country of Vast Extent and Remarkable Features — Like an Ox's Head
Inverted — Yukon District Described as a Great Moorland — Its Archi-
pelago a Wonderland of Immense Mountain Peaks — Legends of the
Indians are Many — Tributes of Visitors to the Wilderness — Magnifi-
cent Auroral Displays — The Reports Brought Back as to the Difierences
of Temperature — Mr. Weare Gives Some Interesting Information —
Bitter Cold in the Region in Which the Mines are Located.

AN account of Alaska naturally includes a description of its
topographical features, somewhat more in detail than
was given in the chapter on the Wonders of Alaska.
As was there said, the very name signifies " great country " or
continent. And it is a great country, great in every way, cover-
ing an area equal to the original thirteen States of the Union,
with the great Northwest Territory added.

Put in other words, Alaska is .as large as all of the United
States east of the Mississippi and north of Alabama, Georgia and
North Carolina, extending looo miles from north to south and
3500 miles from east to west. It is a remarkable fact that the
shore line up and down the bays and around the islands, accord-
ing to the United States coast survey, measures 25,000 miles or
two and one-half times more than the Atlantic and Pacific coast
lines of the remaining portions of the United States. The coast
of Alaska alone, if extended in a straight line, would belt the globe.

Beginning at the north end of Dixon Inlet, in latitude 54
degrees, 40 minutes, the coast line sweeps in a long, regular
curve north and west to the entrance of Prince William's Sound,
a distance of 5 50 miles. From that point it extends 725 miles
south and west to Unimak Pass, at the end of the Alaska penin-
sula. At this pass the chain of the Aleutian Islands begins

281

282 TOPOGRAPHY.

and extends 1075 miles in a long curve almost across the Pacific
Ocean to Asia.

The dividing line between Asia and Alaska, according to the
treaty made with Russia, is the meridian of 193 degrees west
longitude. To the north of Unimak Pass the coast has a zig-zag
line as far as Point Barrow, on the Arctic Ocean. The general
shape of Alaska is thus that of the head and horns of an ox
inverted, the mainland forming the head and .the chain of the
Aleutian Islands the horns.

The surface of this immense tract falls naturally into three
distinct districts. The first is the Yukon, extending from the
Alaskan range of mountains to the Arctic Ocean. The second
is the Aleutian, which includes the Alaska Peninsula and all the
islands west of the 155th degree of longitude. The last is the
Sitkan, embracing Southeastern Alaska.

A Vast Moorland.

Of the Yukon district, in which most of the gold fields lie,
we know comparatively little. Until the hardy miners and pros-
pectors were lured into the mountains and plains and along the
river beds in the hope of securing fortune, few ever ventured
into the region. As might be expected, little or nothing of
scientific value comes from people of this stamp. The prospectors
and miners in a large measure have but a single purpose and
have been dependent upon the natives, who are familiar with the
passes, to conduct them into the interior. No body ot scientific
men has thus far undertaken a thorough exploration of the
region. Only in its greater outlines or details do we know it.

The " Coast Pilot," a publication of the United States Coast
Survey, gives a passage which is worth transcribing, descriptive
of the country between Norton's Sound and the Arctic Ocean.
It says:

283

284 TOPOGRAPHY.

" It is a vast moorland whose level is only interrupted by
promontories and isolated mountains, with numerous lakes, bogs
and peat beds. Wherever drainage exists, the ground is covered
with a luxuriant herbage and produces the rarest as well as the
most beautiful plants. The aspect of some of these spots is
very gay. Many flowers are large, their colors bright and,
though white and yellow predominate, other tints are not un-
common. Summer sets in most rapidly in May and the landscape
is quickly overspread with lively green."

The Aleutian district is for the most part of mountainous and
volcanic formation. There are, however, many natural prairies
between the mountains and the sea, with a rich soil of vegetable
mould and clay, alid covered with perennial wild grasses. Speak-
ing of grasses recalls the statement of Dr. Kellogg, botanist of
the United State Exploring Expedition. Says he : ^' Unalaska
abounds in grasses, with a climate better adapted for haying than
the coast of Oregon."

The Rev. Sheldon Jackson says that in 1879 at Fort Wrangel
he cut wild timothy that would average five feet in height, and
blue grass that would average six feet. He measured one stem
that reached seven feet three inches. Prof Muir, State Geologist
of California at one time, also declares that he never saw such
rank vegetation outside the tropics.

Some Characteristic Features.

Alaska is remarkable for the boldness of its shores, and its
deep water, numerous channels and innumerable bays and har-
bors, the great mountainous islands of Vancouver, Queen Char-
lotte, Prince of Wales, Wrangel, Baranoff, Chichagoff, and many
others forming a complete breakwater, so that it is possible for
the traveler to have an ocean voyage of 1 000 miles or more
without once getting out to sea. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson :

TOPOGRAPHY. 285

" The labyrinth of channels around and between the islands,
that are in some places less than a quarter of a mile wide, and
yet too deep to. drop anchor; the mountains rising from the
water's edge from lOOO to 8000 feet, and covered with dense
forests of evergreen far up into the snow that crowns their sum-
mits ; the frequent track of the avalanche cutting a broad road
from mountain top to water's edge ; the beautiful cascades, or
the glaciers, or the overflow of high inland lakes, falling over
mountain precipices or gliding like a silver ribbon down their
sides ; the deep gloomy sea fiords, cleaving the mountains into
the interior ; the beautiful kaleidoscopic vistag opening up among
the innumerable islands ; mountain tops, domed, peeked and
sculptured by glaciers ; the glaciers themselves, sparkling and
glistening in the sunlight dropping down from the mountain
heights like some great swollen river, filled with drift wood and
ice, and suddenly arrested in its flow, all go to make up a scene
of grandeur and beauty that cannot be placed upon canvass or
adequately described in words."

Archipelago is Divided.

This great archipelago of Alaska is naturally divided into
three portions, the southern portion being in Washington Terri-
tory, the central in British Columbia and the northern in Alaska
proper. This last was named, in honor of the Czar of Russia,
the Alexander Archipelago. It is seventy-five miles from east
to west and 300 miles from north to south. The aggregate area
of these islands is 14,142 square miles.

To the westward is Kadiak, 600 miles distant, with an area oJ
5676 square miles ; then comes the Schumigan group, contain-
ing 1 03 1 square miles; and then the Aleutian chain which has
an area of 6391 square miles. Then, to the northward, are the
Seal Islands, containing, with the other islands in Behring Sea,

286 TOPOGRAPHY.

about 3963 square miles. Thus, it will be seen that the total
area of the island of Alaska alone is 31,205 square miles, an
extent of territory equal to that of the State of Maine.

Alaska is also the home of great mountain peaks. It has the
highest peaks in the United States. The coast range of Cali-
fornia and the rocky range of Colorado and Montana trend
together in Alaska and form the Alaskan mountains. Here, we
may notice the fact that the old atlases misrepresent the range
.of mountains that is thus formed. It does not continue north-
tvard to the Arctic Ocean, as was supposed, but turns to the
southwest, extending through and forming the Alaskan penin-
sula and then gradually sinking into the Pacific Ocean. Only a
few of the highest peaks are here visible above the water. It is
these peaks that form the Aleutian chain of islands, which ar/*
only the mountain tops.

Island Mountain Peaks.

The islands of the Alaskan archipelago naturally decrease in
size and frequency as the mountain range sinks deeper and
deeper into the sea. Unimak, the most eastern of the chain, is
noted for that most magnificent of volcanoes, Shishaldia, 9000
feet high ; then comes Unalaska, 5691 feet ; after this Atka,
4852 feet; then Kyska, 3700 feet; and finally Attu, which is
the most western of the group, and has an altitude of only 3084 feet.

Alaska has the highest mountain peaks in the United States,
and some of them are worthy of special mention. Mount St.
Elias towers aloft 19,500 feet; Mount Cook, 16,000 feet;
Mount Crillon, 15,900 feet; Mount Fairweather, 15,500 feet.
There are many others, whose altitudes are no less striking.

In Alaska, too, is to be found the great volcanic system of
the United States. Grewingk enumerates sixty-one volcanoes.
These are mainly on the Alaskan peninsula and the Aleutian

TOPOGRAPHY. 287

Islands. It is said that the violence of the volcanic forces is

decreasing, and that only ten of these volcanoes are now active.

Mount Edgecombe, near Sitka, is one of the extinct volcanoes.

On the Naas River, just across from southern Alaska, there is

still to be seen a remarkable lava overflow from a volcano in the

neighborhood.

Interesting Indian Legends.

About these volcanoes the fancy of the Indians has linked
any number of curious legends. To these children of the wil-
derness the volcanoes are little less than living entities and, natur-
ally, reasons for their activity have been sought by the savages
and have been expressed in some terms of ordinary life.

Again, it is in Alaska that we find the great glacial system of
the United States, chief of which is the great Muir glacier, which
has been described in Chapter V. One can hardly go anywhere
along the coast of Alaska without finding these great sleeping
giants, as they have been called, debouching slowly into the
ocean. Their number is literally legion. Prof John Muir
describes one of these monsters and his description is worth
transcribing, partly from Prof Muir's reputation as a scientist
and the accuracy of the facts he marshals, and partly from the
picturesque language he uses. The glacier he visited and
described particularly was one near Cape Fanshaw. Said he :

''The whole front and brow of this majestic glacier is dashed
and sculptured in a maze of yawning crevasses, and a bewilder-
ing variety of strange architectural forms, appalling the strongest
nerves, but novel and beautiful beyond measure — clusters o/
glittering, lance-tipped spires, gables and obelisks, bold out-
standing bastions and plain mural cliffs, adorned along the top
with fretted cornice battlements, while every gorge and crevasse,
chasm and hollo\y, was filled with light, shimmering and fulsomr?
in pale blue tones of ineffable tenderness.

288 TOPOGRAPHY.

" The day was warm, and back on the broad, waving bosom
of the glacier water streams were outspread in a complicated
network. Each, in its own frictionless channel, cut down
through the porous, ice-decaying surface into the quick and
living blue, and flowed with the grace of motion and with a ring
and gurgle and flashing of light to be found only on the crystal
hills and dales of a sflacier.

Reflecting God's Plan.

" Along the sides we could see the mighty flood grinding
against the granite with tremendous pressure, rounding the out-
swelling bosses, deepening and smoothing the retreating hollows,
and shading every portion of the mountain walls into the forms
they were meant to have when, in the fullness of appointed time,
the ice-tool should be lifted and set aside by the sun. Every
feature glowed with intention, reflecting the earth plans of God.

" Back two or three miles from the front the current is now
probably about 1 200 feet deep, but when we examined the walls,
the grooved and rounded features so surely glacial showed that
in the earlier days of the ice age they were all over-swept, this
glacier having flowed at a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet
above its present level."

The rate of recession of glaciers is one of the unsettled ques-
tions of Alaska. It seems, however, that rain withers and breaks
away the ice most rapidly. A close watch was kept in July and
August of 1 89 1 by Miss Skidmore, who concluded from her
observations that the tide had little or nothing to do with the
fall of the ice. On many warm, clear days she noticed, when a
hot sun fell upon the ice front for sixteen and eighteen hours
continuously, there was no sound. After days of silence, on
the contrary, came tremendous displays, one-quarter or one-third
of the long wall falling away apparently without cause. As a

TOPOGRAPHY. 280

general rule, these falls occurred in the middle of the night or
at early daybreak.

Attempts have been made by photographic evidence to deter-
mine the recession of the glacier, but with limited success. In
this way it has been shown with reasonable sureness that one
glacier, at least, retreated looo yards between 1886, when
Professor Wright visited it and 1890, when Professor Reid
visited it. Photographs were again taken in 1891, which showed
a recession of 300 yards in a year. Professor Muir noted a
retreat of a mile between his visits to a glacier in 1 880 and in 1 890.

The effect of this irregular coast line, with its setting of moun-
tain peaks and glaciers, is striking. The surroundings are fasci-
nating. The shores are sentineled by gigantic mountains, on
whose broad sides recline a dozen or more huge glaciers —
amongst them the Davidson. But to reach the greatest of these
" frozen Niagaras," Lynn Canal must be retraced to appropri-
ately-named Icy Straits, north of which is Glacier Bay, into
whose pellucid waters descend Titantic glaciers, king among
which is the Muir.

In matchless beauty and colossal structure it is overpowering
to the senses. Here, right in front, a wall of ice nearly two
miles long and several hundred feet high, and rising in a glitter-
ing cliff out of the waves, marks the end of the Muir Glacier,
which is formed by the union of twenty-six tributary glaciers,
and the united mass of ice covers 1000 square miles.

A Giant Among Peaks.

A little further to the north is the Melaspina Glacier, lying
beneath a grand circle of snowy peaks, the loftiest of which,
Mount St. Elias, is 18,360 feet above the sea. The Melaspina
Glacier is a great sea of ice, formed by the junction of many
glaciers descending from the mountains.
19

290 TOPOGRAPHY.

These rivers of ice, at their confluence, spread out in one vast
united ice-sheet, and from this great congealed, constantly mov-
ing mass, as it debouches into the sea, huge pieces break from
the forefoot and with terrific force, lashing the waters into great
waves, drop into the sea, accompanied by loud reports which
reverberate hke the booming of heavy artillery. From the
summit of the Muir Glacier, the eye beholds a frozen world.

In Alaska also, are to be found numerous boiling springs,
veritable geysers, from which the water bubbles up with a tem-
perature that is really surprising. There are some large ones
south of Sitka, and several more on Perenosna Bay, on Magat
Island and at Fort Moller. Boiling springs are also to be found
in numbers on many of the islands, and so hot is the water that
gushes from them that for ages the natives have been accustomed
to boil their food in them. In the crater of Goreloi there is a
vast boiling spring eighteen miles in circumference. On Beaver
Island there is a lake very strongly impregnate with nitre.
Some of the springs are likewise touched with sulphur.

Like the glaciers and the volcanoes, these boiling springs
have been subject for marvel on the part of the Indians. Noises
proceed from them similar to the roaring of cannon, and it is
natural that the unlettered savages, being unable to explain these
mysterious phenomena, should surround them with a tissue of
their own imagination and resort to legend for an explanation.

Fine Auroral Displays.

As part of the natural phenomena of the country, mention
must be made of the magnificent auroral displays. Of these,
Bancroft gives a pretty description. He describes them " as
flashing out in prismatic corruscations, throwing a brilliant arch
from east to west — now in variegated oscillations, graduating
through all the various tints of blue and green and violet and

TOPOGRAPHY. 291

crimson, darting, flashing or streaming in yellow columns, up-
ward, downward, now blazing steadily, now in wavy undulations,
sometimes up to the very zenith, momentarily lighting up the
surrounding scenery, but only to fall back into darkness."

It is recorded that on the occasion of one of these beautiful
auroral displays the air was so thickly charged with electricity
that sparks flashed from the points of the soldiers' bayonets.

In a previous chapter mention was made of the great Yukon
River, and it remains here to be sai J chiefly that the Yukon,
while it is the greatest, is only one of many mighty streams.
Indeed, in Alaska are te be found some of the largest rivers, not
only of the United States, but of the world. The Yukon is the
great artery leading from the coast into the interior.

Its course throughout its 2500 miles of length is marked by
features which make it one of the most remarkable water courses
on the globe. For the first 1000 miles it varies in width from one
to five miles and often, owing to the islands in its course, it is
twenty-five miles in width. It is navigable for 1500 miles. , Its
upper waters are within the Arctic Circle and along its banks live
thousands of people who know nothing of its mouth or of its
head. To them it is simply an unexplored immensity.

Climate Extremely Varied.

Among the other principal rivers of the territory are the
Stikine River, 250 miles long ; the Chilkat, the Copper, the Fire,
the Nushergak and the Kuskokuim. This last is next in size to
the Yukon, and is from 500 to 600 miles in length. The Tananeh
is 250 miles in length, and half a mile wide at its mouth, and
has a very strong current. Two of Yukon's principal tributaries
are the Nowikakat, 1 12 miles, and the Porcupine.

The climate of Alaska, owing to the vast extent of the coun-
try, is as varied as in the United States. In Southern Alaska the

292 TOPOGRAPHY.

temperature is so mild as to give no suggestion of the extreme
rigor of the north. The greatest cold recorded on the Island of
Unalaska during a period of five years was zero. The average
for five years at seven o'clock in the morning was thirty-seven
degrees above. The average of weather for seven years shows
53 clear days, 1263 half-clear days and 1255 cloudy days. This
indicates a climate very similar to that of northwestern Scotland.
At Sitka the record is not very dissimilar. During a period of
forty-three years there was an . average of 200 rainy or snowy
days per year. During the winter of 1877 the coldest night at
Sitka only formed ice about the thickness of a knife blade. At
Fort Wrangel, which is at a distance from the ocean and near
snow-covered mountains, the climate is colder than at Sitka.
And when one reaches the regions of the North, where the gold
mines are located, it is no uncommon thing to find the tempera-
ture falling from eighty to ninety below zero.

Testimony of Travelers.

The mild climate of Southern Alaska is due to the Japan Gulf
Stream, which first strikes the North American continent at the
Queen Charlotte Islands, in latitude 50 degrees north. At this
point the stream divides, one portion going northward and west-
ward, along the coast of Alaska, and the other southward along
the coast of British Columbia, Washington Territory, Oregon
and California. Thus the climate of the States just named is
made mild and pleasant in precisely the same way that the shores
of Spain, Portugal, France and England are made mild by the
ocean currents of the Atlantic.

As the climate is one of the terrors of the country in the
popular estimate, the testimony of people who have been in the
gold region in recent years will be acceptable to the reader. The
prospector is willing to scale mountains, traverse plains, cross

TOPOGRAPHY. 298

rivers, shoot rapids, and brave a thousand perils, but the thought
of living in a country whose temperature is often represented as
being comparable with that of a vast refrigerator is appalling.

Owing to the popular association of the idea of extreme
frigidity with the word Alaska, many people will doubtless be
surprised to learn that the average temperature in the Klondike
region during the four coldest months of the year is not ordina-
rily much lower than 20 degrees below zero.

The average winter's snowfall in that part of Alaska is only
about two feet, whereas on the coast it is ten times that much.

Facts from Mr. ^Vea^e.

" The snowfall in the vicinity of Fort Cudahy is only about
two feet during the winter, although it is as much as twenty feet
along the coast where the influence of the Japan current is felt.

" It is bitterly cold in Arctic Alaska. There is no denying
this. Forty degrees below zero for days at a stretch is not un-
common. But they have the same kind of weather in Northern
Russia, and one does not hear any plaints of hardship from there.
Peary and other Arctic explorers have spent whole winters hun-
dreds of miles nearer to the pole without actual suffering.

" In Russia and other cold countries the people prepare for the
long eight months' winter by building tight log houses in which
they keep comfortable over their queer-looking tile stoves which
give an immense amount of heat from a small bunch of wood.
The same thing will have to be done in the Yukon country.
Frail tents are not suitable shelter in winter.

" It's too much like a man trying to get along with a linen
duster for a topcoat. If the prospectors are well housed, well
clothed, and well fed, they can bid defiance to the cold, and
those who are not able to secure these three important items
should not tempt fate by making the trip."

294 TOPOGRAPHY.

The following is important as being exact figures direct from
the gold region :

Table Showing Highest and Lowest Temperature at Fort
Constantine, Yukon, Jan. ist to May 31st, 1896.

Day January February March April May

of Month High I,ow High lyOw High I^ow High I/jw High I^w

I —24 —38 —20 —32 — 7 —26 II —24 30 5

2 —29 —46 — 5 —22 — 1.5 —16 9 —13 19.5 5

3 —45 —55 —1 1. 5 —43 12.5 —ri 19 _ 3 22 5

4 —46 —56.5 — 4 — 4Q 17 8 23 —23 32 II

5 —54 —61.5 -- 5 —21 18 08 —38 50 30

6 —50 —62.5 o —15 13.5 — I 6 —34 51 30

7 —40 —61 4 —20 13.5 —30 13 —38 46 31.5

8 —26 —54 7 —20 II —2^ 8.5 —34 58 35

9 -17-5 —28 —17 —47 8 —23 12 —31 65 28

10 —12.5 —25 —27 —45 12.5 —20 15 —31 61 30

II — 8 —23 — 45 —61 23 — 121 — 21 60 30

12 — 9 —25 —40 —62 34 2 20 —23 53 35

13 -14-5 —32 —46 —56 23 o 16 —26 56 30

14 —27 —41 —33 —56 35 7 16 —26 55 29

15 —31 —42 —35.5 —55 39 6 21 I 56 38

16 —26.5 —36 —34 —50 31 10 39 20 55 33

17 —22 —42 —32 —47 39 19 45 31 54 30

18 —20 —39 —26.5 —56 34 2 48 30 59 28

19 —15 —26 —16 —53 34 10 38 14 62.5 40.5

20 —16.5 —42 4 —20 33 14 33 20 55 37

21 —21 —54 17.5 I 15 —35 40 17 47 33-5

22 ..... . —45 —58 24.5 10 13 —20 16 — 5 54.5 24

23 —45 —61 21 —15 20 — 5 28.5 5 59.5 32

24 —48 —60 25 —22 21 3 34 19 65 33

25 —48 —56 — 3 —15 28.5 ir 43 29 58 35.5

26 —49 —64 1-5 —35 27 10 42 22 58 39

27 —57 —65 —10 ' —41 24 —29 32.5 6 6[.5 35

28 —44 —59 —18.5 —41 21 —10 29 12 58.5 33

29 —18 —55 —10 —33 20 5 22 —8 55 26

30 —13 —42 9 — 5 39 19 63 28

31 — 8 —27 7 —17 .... 60 30

Means .... —30 —46 — t2 —35 20 — 5 25 — 4 53 28

Mn. tern. Mth.— 38 23.5 7-5 io-5 4o-5

CHAPTER X.
Flora, Fauna and Climate.

Agricultural Industries in Alaska — Vegetables and Small Fruits in the
Southeastern Portion — Grasses and Fodder — Panorama of Blossoms in
the Short Summer — Seasons in the Yukon Basin — Sea Otters and Fur
Seals — Food Animals and Carnivorse — Moose and Caribou — Value of
Pelts — Fish of the Territory — Salmon Canning and Salting — A Dog
Fish Story — Birds of Alaska — Among the Cetaceans — Mosquitos and
Gnats — Weather Bureau Report — Temperature at Klondike — Animals
and Vegetation in British Columbia.

ALASKA, bisected by the Arctic Circle, bounded by a vast
coast line and culminating in the loftiest peak of the
Rocky Mountain system, possesses a climate of remark-
able variations and possibilities. From pleasant Sitka to ice-
locked Barrow, from sea-girt Baranoff to the Alpine crest of St.
Elias, from the Torrid summers to the hyperborean winters of
the great Yukon basin, almost every extra- tropical range of tem-
perature may be noted and almost every kind of meteorological
condition experienced.

The effect of these wide climatic ranges is manifest in the
fauna and flora of the territory. The former corresponds quite
closely to the sub-arctic type ; the latter presents a variety of
brilliance and sobriety at once delightful and astonishing. The
animals belong largely to the fur-bearing species, though natives
of more temperate regions survive and '"ven thrive with proper
care, but vegetation ranges with charming prodigality from the
luscious fruits and vegetables of the Southland to the frost-defy-
ing firs and spruces of the extreme north. Agriculture may
never be a leading industry of the territory for the season is too
• short and crops are too uncertain of maturity. Yet below the

295

296 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

Arctic Circle it is easy to grow enough for food, and even farther
north herbs and vegetables of quick growth make a rapid and
even rank response during the short, hot summer.

Alaska, superficially, is either mountain, plain or archipelago.
The country between Norton Sound and the Arctic Ocean is a
vast moorland with numerous bogs and peat beds. The Yukon
basin is a broad, alluvial plain with a rich soil of unknown depth.
The islands and the adjacent coasts are generally rocky, but not
sterile. Magnificent timber abounds in the uplands and along
the lower coasts and summer from the Arctic Circle south is a
jubilee of luxuriant herbage and beautiful plants and flowers.

In the Southeast.

In the southeastern portion of the territory nearly all the
vegetables, herbs, grasses and smaller fruits of the middle tem-
perate zone flourish without stint or extra care. Potatoes, car-
rots, beets, parsnips, radishes, lettuce and turnips grow large and
sweet. Cabbages weighing seven pounds are on record and aU
" garden truck," in fact, except cucumbers and beans, does well.
The best arable land in the territory is in this region, and in
several districts agriculture is carried on with considerable suc-
cess on a fairly extensive scale. Timothy, blue-joint, wood-
meadow, marsh and the Kentucky blue-grass raise rank crops,
and clover has done well wherever tried. These afford unex-
celled grazing in summer and the best of fodder in the winter
for stock. Cattle thrive in this climate, but sheep, despite the
excellent feed, suffer from the extreme moisture which rots their
hoofs. There is a poultry ranch at Fort Wrangel.

This region is noted for its bountiful berry crops. Re4 and
black currants, raspberries, strawberries, huckleberries, Killi-
kinick berries, bearberries, dewberries, heathberries, mossbe^ries,
roseberries, salmonberries and cranberries grow abundant^.

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 297

The Indians gather the salmonberries for local trade, and large
quantities of cranberries are annually picked and sent down the
coast.

The timber of the southeast is remarkable for its size and
general excellence. The spruce, hemlock, red and yellow cedar,
poplar, alder, willow, birch, larch and pine abound of great size
and general excellence. Nearly all the barrels for the salmon
canneries and salteries are manufactured from the Alaskan spruce
and an excellent quality of shingles is also made from the same
wood. The yellow cedar, because of its peculiar hardness and
lightness is highly prized by the Indians for their paddles, . which
in the peculiarly dangerous navigation of the intricate and swift
waterway^, need to be of the best material to insure immunity
from serious and often fatal mishaps afloat.

This yellow cedar is also a very beautiful wood when polished,
easy to work, of a bright canary and delightful odor, and is
esteemed in the manufacture of furniture and all sorts of fancy
articles. It possesses also another point of excellence which,
being strictly utilitarian, bids fair some day to largely deprive the
arts of its use. . It is one of the few known woods which the de-
structive teredo refuses to attack and hence is invaluable for
piling. Except for its expensiveness it would long ago have
run the Oregon pine out of the market for this purpose.

Making a Canoe.

Out of these great cedars the Southern Alaskan natives also
hew their huge canoes. The task is long and laborious, but the
finished vessel has been rightly deemed a work of boat builders'
art, and, for the waters where it is used, is unequalled. No
journey in these canoes seems long or hazardous enough to
appal the Indian voyagcur ; in fact, the natives have been known,
on their forays, to paddle in them as far as Puget Sound and

298 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

back again. To make a canoe a large and perfectly symmetrical
log is chosen and properly beached. The outside is shaped with
a heavy axe and then the inside is roughly hollowed out with
fire and tools. Then with a small home-made hand, adze the
boat carpenter goes over the entire vessel, inside and out, care-
fully chipping away until the smooth and perfect outline has
been produced throughout. The boat is then steamed by filling
it with water into which heated stones are dropped, and the final
shaping or " spreading " is given by putting in the cross braces
while the wood is thus pliant. Some of these single log canoes
are forty-two feet in length.

A peculiar feature of these southeastern forests, noticed by the
first white explorers, and for a time a scientific puzzle, was found
in the great number of yellow cedar trees standing outwardly
dead and yet not decaying, but sound to the core. It was finally
ascertained that this was due to the thickly overshadowing
branches of the taller surrounding spruce and hemlock, slowly
smothering the cedars to death.

Reserve Lumber Region.

Alaska is the great reserve lumber region of the United States.
William H. Seward, returning from a trip to Alaska, said in a
public address :

" I venture to predict that the North Pacific coast will become
a common shipyard for the American continent and speedily for
the whole world. Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the Atlantic
American States have either exhausted or are exhausting their
native supplies of timber and lumber. Their last and only
resort must be to the North Pacific. Then the country will
appreciate fliese thousands of square miles of cedar, spruce,
hemlock and balsam firs."

Although in the mountainous interior vegetation and fauna

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 299

partake of Arctic characteristics, near the sea in the southeast the
summer is a season of delicious sounds, and sweet perfumes, the
voices of birds, ripple of running water, and music of waving
branches making it difficult for the traveler to believe that he is
in the marches of the Empire of Ice. The flowers and orchids
are almost tropical in the luxuriance and beauty.

In the Aleutian Islands the cereals will not mature, though
numerous and persistent experiments to that end have been
made. Vegetation of speedier growth flourishes in season, and
the grasses are especially rank in growth. The state of the
stock industry, however, is problematical. The timber of the
islands is similar to that of the mainland, both as to variety and
size.

On the Kadiak Islands are great forests and vast grassy plains
where cattle thrive with little feeding and shelter. Sheep also
do well here, except for a tendency to hoof rot.

Summer in the Yukon.

The brief summer in the Yukon Basin, enduring only from the
middle of June to the first of September, presents an unending
panorama of extraordinary picturesqueness and beauty. The
banks are fringed with flowers, carpeted with the all pervading
moss. . Birds, countless in numbers, and of bewildering variety
of plumage, pipe out a song from every treetop. Let the voy-
ageur pitch his tent where he will in summer, a bunch of roses,
a clump of poppies, and a bed of bluebells will adorn the camping.

High above this almost tropical floral exuberance, giant glaciers
sleep in the summits of the mountain wall which rises from a
bed of blossoms. In September they waken and everything is
changed. The roses disappear before the frosty breath from the
peaks, the birds fly to the southland, and mountain, and plain,
hide for the long winter beneath a sheet of snow.

300 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

In the Yukon basin vegetables of the hardier sorts do fairly-
well. Turnips, radishes and salad plants and even potatoes have
been successfully cultivated at St. Michael's and at Fort Yukon.

At Fort Selkirk, on the British side, gardening has become a
science and the results are pleasing in size and variety. The
whole Yukon basin raises fine berries and grass, but other crops
are hard to mature, and though the fodder is plenty and good,
the long winter precludes success in stock raising. It is believed
the dairy industry would thrive, however.

The timber of the Yukon is principally willow, alder, cotton-
wood, spruce, low fir, hemlock and birch. North of the basin
the growths become stunted and finally disappear.

Dr. Jackson's View.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of Education, has given
to the Department of Agriculture, his views of the agricultural
possibilities of Alaska as follows :

" The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in
agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear com-
parison with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they
do claim that while there are large areas of mountains and unpro-
ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains
where, with suitable care, many of the earlier vegetables, fruits,
and grains can be raised.

" On Kadiak, on adjacent islands, and on the shores of Cook's
Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they
have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with
vegetable food from their own gardens.

" Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in
the arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild
berries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, rasp-
berries, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 301

question that if the government places Alaska on an equal foot-
ing with the other States and Territories in the establishment of
one or more experimental stations it will be demonstrated that
sufficient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its peo-
ple. And if there is found a section so far north that the profit-
able raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that
region can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic
reindeer.

" Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are
to be had, as a basis of calculation, and applying the same aver-
age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining
9,2(X),ooo head of reindeer, which will support a population of
287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland.

" The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open-
ing up of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of North-
em and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization and the
opening up of a vast commercial industry. Lapland, with
400,000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores of Northern Europe
with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tongues, dried and tanned
hides, and 23,000 carcasses per annum to the butcher shops.
On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity of 9,200,000 head
of reindeer, can supply the markets of North America with
500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together with tons of de-
licious hams and tongues and finest leather."

Ball's Statement.

William H. Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote as fal-
lows :

" I am convinced, afler careful inspection, that Alaska is a far
better country than much of Great Britain and Norway and even
part of Prussia. Excepting for the extreme cold in midwinter of
the interior, the Alaskan climate and productions are not unlike

302 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

those of the northwestern part of Scotland or the Shetlands and
Orkneys."

As the Canadian territory contiguous to Alaska is at present
the site of the gold craze and contains many of the avenues by
which access is had to the British Klondike, the interest attach-
ing to this alien region at the headwaters of the Yukon warrants
a few words in notice of its flora and agricultural possibilities.

Surveyor Ogilvie's Report.

William Ogilvie, Dominion Land Surveyor, reported on this
region to the Canadian Department of the Interior, as follows :

" The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river
are not great, nor is the land that can be seen from the river of
good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic
conditions that prevail in the region, it may be said that as an
agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of
any value.

' ' My meteorological records show over eight degrees of frost
on August 1st, over ten on the 3d, and four times during the
month the minimum temperature was below freezing.

''Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot
or western arm, there: are some flats of dry gravelly soil, which
would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side,
around the mouth of the Wheaton River, there is an extensive
flat of sand and gravel, covered with small pine and spruce of
stunted growth.

"Along the westerly shore of Tagish Lake there is a large
extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for
the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would
permit. Along the west side of Marsh Lake there is also much
flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some
coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 303

east side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is probably
less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist. Along the
head of the river, for some miles below Marsh Lake, there are
flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface conformation
goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better quality than
any heretofore seen, as is proven by the larger and thicker growth
of timber and underbrush which it supports. The soil bears less
the character of detritus, and more that of alluvium, than that
seen above.

"Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of
the lake on the west side. This valley contains a small stream.
Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as
the grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far.

" On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also

a considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of

it is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned

some time ago ; here both the soil and vegetation were good,

and two or three of the plants seen are common in this part of

Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the same

plants have East.

In Ogilvie Valley.

" Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide
valley, which Dr. Dawson has named * Ogilvie Valley.' In this
the mixed timber, poplar and spruce, is of a size which betokens
a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this
region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid
in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the dis-
trict's agricultural assets.

" Below the lake the valley of the river is not, as a rule, wide,
and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however,
many flats of modern extent along the river and at its conTluence
with other streams. The soil of many of these is fur.

304 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

" About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there
is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here
is poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there
is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk
stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few
spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in
depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This flat
extends up the river for some miles, but is all covered thickly
with timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort.

Vegetables for Miners.

" I think ten townships, or 360 square miles, would be a very
liberal estimate of all the places mentioned along the river.
This gives us 230,400 acres, or, say, 1000 farms. The available
lands on the affluents of the rivers would probably double this,
or give 2000 farms in that part of our territory, but on most of
these farms the returns would be meager. Without the dis-
covery and development of large mineral wealth it is not likely
that the slender agricultural resources of the country will ever
attract attention. In the event of such discovery, however,
some of the land might be used for the production of vegetable
food for the miners, but even in that case, with the transport
facilities which the district commands, it is very doubtful if it
could compete successfully with the South and East.

" The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac-
uring in the district along the river is not at all important. There
is a large extent of forest which would yield firewood and timber
for use in mines, but for the- manufacture of lumber there is very
little.

" To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of
my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land
around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over ten

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 305

miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable for
making such plank as we required for the construction of our
large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide at the
butt, seven at the top, and thirty-one feet long.

" Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short
logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten
to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat
required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of
the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits
had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this on
ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine and some
balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest-
trunked.

" The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for manu-
facture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the river.
On them the soil is warmer and richer, the sun's rays striking
the surface for a much longer time and more directly than on
the banks.

Quantity of Timber.

" To estimate the quantity of timber in the vicinity of the
river in our territory would be an impossible task, having only
such data as I was able to collect on my way down. I would,
however, say that one-fourth of the area I have given as agricul-
tural land would be a fair conjecture. This would give us two
and one-half townships, or ninety square miles, of fairly well-
timbered ground ; but it must be borne in mind that there is not
more than a square mile or so of that in any one place, and
most of the timber would be small and poor compared with the
timber of Manitoba and the easterly part of the Northwest
Territories.

'* It may be said that the country might furnish much timber,
which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet
20

306 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

many of the requirements of the only industry the country is
ever likely to have — viz. : mining."

The native animal life of Alaska, whether of land or sea, fish
or fowl, is in general that of a northern country with its peculiar
climatic conditions. The fur bearing land animals and amphib-
ians are important, and the fisheries are not surpassed. The
insect life partakes of a tropical nature and in summer time the,
pest of mosquitos and gnats is almost unbearable. There is
some compensation in the absence of snakes from the territory.

Alaska's first value in the eyes of civilization was in its furs
of land and sea, and for a century the fur industries were the
chief occupation of the Russian colonists and their aboriginal
allies. Only within a decade has gold been a rival to furs in the
territory.

The fur producing amphibians are principally the valuable and
comparatively rare sea otter and the fur seal, the ambition of
every woman's heart on two continents and the cause of a
hundred years of international complications. The fur of the
sea otter is among the most beautiful and highly prized known,
and until within a very few years has brought enormous prices
in the London market. Of the fur of the seal it is unnecessary
to speak further than to say that it is still the basis of the mo.st
extensive commerce, and it furnishes a livelihood ashore and
afloat to many thousands of hands, and employment to many
millions of capital.

The Sea Otter.

The sea otter was once abundant along the whole southeastern
and southwestern coast of Alaska, . how abundant may be
gathered from the fact that the estimated total value of all the
sea otter skins taken up to 1890 is $36,000,000. The Russians
encouraged the natives to slaughter the valuable animal, and the

307

308 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

Yankee fishers and their British brethren were no more inclined
to mercy or thrift than the Muscovites, Gradually the furry
amphibian was driven from the southeastern archipelago until
to-day the chief and, in fact, almost the only grounds where it is
successfully hunted are along the Aleutian chain and to the
eastward in the neighborhood of Kadiak Island and the mouth
of the Copper River,

La Perouse sent the first sea otter skins home to France in
1788. Their magnificent beauty soon made them the talk of
the courts of Europe, and as they were easily approached by
hunters in those early days their slaughter grew apace with the
demand. The female otter is very tender of its young and,
sailors say, often gathers the little one upon its breast between
its fore legs and floating on its back on the water, croons a
lullaby to the baby otter which the hunters aver is almost human

in its tones.

Romance of the Otter. '

A bit of romance which colored the lives of the native women
in the early days of the Russian occupation of Alaska was due
entirely to the sea otter. The right to hunt them was proscribed
to all except natives or the husbands of native wives. As the
pursuit was exceedingly profitable and the women not altogether
bad looking, there came about a marrying epidemic among the
white sailors, especially the Scandinavians, which gave the dark-
skinned belles a chance to be courted into a home of their own,
which it is safe to say they had never enjoyed before. From
these unions grew up a race of hardy half-breed otter hunters
whose prowess is still famous on the coast.

The fur seal, ;^47 ,000,000 worth of whose skins had been
taken up to 1890, once had a habitat coextensive with that of
the sea otter, but like the latter has been driven to the westward,
and now only an occasional specimen is seen in the waters of the

FI.ORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 309

southeastern archipelago. Its principal Alaskan resting places
are now the Islands of St. Paul and St. George and the adjacent
rookeries. • .

Other seals which are native to Alaskan waters are the hair,
leopard, saddle and big black seal or maklak. They are hunted
by the natives for their skins, but the fur is of small commercial

value.

Land Animals.

The land animals, native to Alaska, include several species of
the fox, the land otter, beaver, brown, black, cinnamon, grizzly
and polar bears, mink, marten or sable, lynx, wolverine, muskrat,
marmat, ermine, squirrel, moose, caribou, deer, mountain sheep,
mountain goat, barren ground caribou, musk-ox and wolf The
Esquimo dog, though comparatively domesticated, is also entitled
to a place among the native animals of the territory. Some of
the animals enumerated are of value for their skins or for food ;
otters are merely the brute Ishmaels of the wilderness.

The black, or silver fox (the same species with different mark-
ings), is easily the king of the vulpine Alaskans. Traffic in its
skins makes up the bulk of the fur trade of the Yukon Basin.
They are the highest priced of any of the native fox skins. The
red fox is found all over the territory and has even been known
to take a voyage over to the Aleutian Islands on an opportunely
drifting ice cake. Its skin is as cheap as it is plenty. The cross
fox, so named because it is a cross between the black and red,
is likewise all over the country, and likewise cheap. The Arctic
fox, both white and blue, is found on the mainland and in the
Seal and Aleutian Islands. Its skin has little value. General
characteristics of the Alaskan foxes are their perpetual famine,
their absolutely omniverous taste and their lack of shyness which
often leads to unpleasant experiences for " tcnderfeet " when
camping out. The Alaskan Commercial Company ten years

310 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

ago established a ** fox farm " on Semidi Island, bringing the

black, blue and silver colonists from the mainland and leaving

them to multiply. The venture is said to have proved a financial

success.

Otter and Bears.

The land otter, whose skin has considerable commercial value,
both for itself and because of the ease with whijch it can be
made into an imitation of seal skin, is found along the whole
coast, among the islands, especially around Kadiak, and in the
Yukon Basin.

The habitat of the beaver is within the timber limit. The
demand and supply in this fur are growing less together and the
skins are cheap. The old currency of the territory was beaver
skins and the denominations are worth recalling as a matter of
curiosity. One beaver was worth four mink, two marten or two
white fox skins ; a beaver and a half was equal to one red fox
and three beaver skins were fair exchange for a land otter.

The brown bear is found all over the territory, and his pelts
are plentiful and cheap. Like all the Alaskan carnivorae, he is a
good fisher and can be found hanging around the salmon and
trout streams in season. He is the great road maker of the
country and his broad trails over plains and through swamps are
of no little use to travelers. The black bear is widely at home
on the mainland, generally in the timber, and his skin brings high
prices. The grizzly bear is found in the southeast.

The mink, which is common on the mainland, and the
marten, which sticks close to standing timber, both supply
cheap furs.

The animals of Alaska are all diligently hunted by the Indians
and Esquimo for the flesh and for the skins, which form the natural
clothing of the aborigines. Those whose flesh is edible, as well
as the more valuable fur-bearers, are also the white hunter's

FLOIC\, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 311

quarries, and the double chase is beginning to tell on the numbers
of some of the species.

The moose and caribou are found in the Yukon basin and now
and then furnish a dainty variety to the post trader or the miner
for his menu. Deer are found mainly in the southeast, where
the mountain sheep and goat are also comparatively plentiful. All
are hunted for their flesh and skins.

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka says of the game in the Yukon basin :
" The great Yukon Valley has but little game in it during the
summer, for the mosquitos drive all game to higher altitudes.
Formerly during the winter season a living could be made by
experienced hunters in bringing inoose and caribou meat to camp.
I heard one miner say, who had spent four winters on the Yukon,
that he had seen moose and caribou so numerous on the bald
hills above timber limit, in the present gold field district, that they
gave the snow a mottled, gray appearance. Of course these
have now disappeared with the advance of civilization, and fresh
meat of any kind is now at a premium."

Canadian Fauna.

Dominion Land Surveyor Ogilvie's official report on the fauna
of the Canadian territory adjacent to Alaska is as follows :

" The principal furs procured in the district are the silver-gray
and black fox, the number of which bears a greater ratio to the
number of red foxes than in any other part of the country. The
red fox is very common, and a species called the blue is ver>^
abundant near the coast. Marten, or sable, are also numerous,
as are lynx ; but otter are scarce, and beaver almost unknown.

"It is probable that the value of gray and black fox skins
taken out of the country more than equals in value all the other
furs. I could get no statistics concerning this trade for obvious
reasons.

312 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

** Gime is not now as abundant as before mining began, and it
is difficult, in fact impossible, to get any close to the river.

*'A boom in mining would soon exterminate the game in the
district along the river.

" There are two species of caribou in the country ; one, the
ordinary kind, found in most parts of the Northwest, and said
to much resemble the reindeer ; the other, called the * wood
caribou,' a much larger and more beautiful animal. Except that
the antlers are much smaller, it appears to me to resemble the
elk or wapiti.

" The ordinary caribou runs in herds, often numbering hun-
dreds.

Bear in Abundance.

" There are four species of bear found in the district — the
grizzly, brown, black and a small kind, locally known as the
' silver-tip,' the latter being gray in color, with a white throat
and beard, whence its name. It is said to be fierce, and not to
wait to be attacked, but to attack on sight. I had not the pleas-
ure of seeing any, but heard many ' yarns ' about them, some of
which, I think, were 'hunters' tales.' It appears, however, that
miners and Indians, unless traveling in numbers, or especially
well armed, give them as wide a berth as they conveniently can.

" Wolves are not plentiful. A few of the common gray
species only are killed, the black being very scarce.

" The Arctic rabbit or hare is sometimes found, but they are
not numerous. There is a curious fact in connection with the
ordinary hare or rabbit which I have observed but of which I
have never yet seen any satisfactory explanation. Their numbers
vary from a very few to myriads, in periods of seven years."

The Alaskan birds include the grouse, ptarmigan, snipe, mal-
lard and teal duck, goose, loon, gray and bald eagle, sea parrot,
gulls, auks and many other sea fowls. One of the ornithological

313

314 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

wonders of the territory last year was a pair of humming birds
which nested in Sitka. The sea birds supply the Indians with a
profitable pursuit gathering their eggs from the rocks. The
eggs are a staple article of diet with the natives.

The piscatorial wealth of Alaska ranks next to the furs. The
food fishes are numerous, but the salmon easily leads them all
in importance, and the canning and drying of this dainty fish
make the third industry of the territory, gold being now the
first, of course, and furs the second.

The first salmon cannery was established at Old Sitka in
1878, but another was started in 1883 at Kadiak Island, and
since that time the canneries and salteries (though the salmon
was never accused of singing like the catfish it still has salteries)
have spread all along the coast.

Species of Salmon.

The king or ** tyee " salmon has the highest standing in the
market. Less highly esteemed are the silver or red, cohoe, dog
and humpback salmon. The cod, which is found all along the
south shore, comes next in commercial importance. It much
resembles the cod of the North Atlantic. Halibut are found
all along the coast, in the channels and to the western extremity
of the Aleutian Islands at Attu. No great quantity of this fish
is shipped, but the natives catch it in great numbers, smoke or
dry the flesh, and esteem it highly for food. Herring are found
in immense shoals in the bays and estuaries and throughout the
island chains. They supply material to a large oil and fertilizer
factory at Killisnoo, the product of which is shipped to the Sandwich
Islands. The salmon trout is a fish of magnificent size and fine
flavor and mountain trout are caught freely in the southeast.
There are also many other edible fish in the waters of the southeast.

The uliken, or candle fish is found in the southeastern waters,

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 315

and is highly prized by the Indians for food and medicinal pur-
poses. It is so oily that it cooks to a turn in its own oil and is
said to be then a delicious morsel. The oil has a flavor not
unlike that of olive, and the natives esteem it highly as a remedy
for lung troubles and for dyspepsia.

It would not be fair to the dog-fish to pass him by without at
least a mention. He is useless for food, even to the strong-
stomached native, who deems blubber a delicacy and whale oil
a libation to pour to his heathen gods ; but the dog-fish can stand
more abuse and make less fuss about it than any other known
member of the animal kingdom. When by any ill luck a tourist,
fishing off the wharf at Sitka or Juneau, pulls up a dog-fish on
his line, some stolid native is sure to beg the prize. The Indian
rips the squirming dog-fish, takes out his liver to try out for oil,
and flings him back into the water, where he swims off apparently
as lively as if he was in the habit of having such things happen
every day. It is said that the only dog-fish that was ever killed
at Sitka was one which, having been originally delivered by an
Indian, insisted on being caught by a white man and hauled up
and thrown out to a native, as if in mockery of the latter's de-
sire for liver. The Indian thought the joke had been played
on him once too often, and smashed the dog-fish's head
with a stone. A valuable lubricating oil is obtained from the
dog-fish, and the natives use the skin of its belly for sand-
paper.

Finds Vast Fishing Banks.

The United States steamer Albatross, in making soundings for
the Coast Survey, developed vast and thitherto unknown fishing
banks all along the Aleutian Chain. It is on these banks the
best cod fishing is had.

Of the cetaceans the whale, beluga or white grampus, and
porpoise are found all along the Alaskan coast.

316 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

The regular whale fishing gounds are on the Arctic shore,
where Herschel Island, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River is
a common station for all whalers. A large American fleet is
constantly on the grounds. Black whales often appear in the
channels around the Southeastern Archipelago in such numbers
as to terrify the Indians who are out in their canoes.

The obese walrus, once the principal food supply of the region
of its habital, has been hunted nearly to extermination.

Many beluga are taken each season by the Esquimeaux south of
Norton Sound, with whom it is a food staple. The porpoise is
also a constant object of the watery chase.

Crabs and clams are plentiful on the southern coasts, but no
oysters are found.

Insect Pests.

It would be a vital defect in the story of the animal life of
Alaska if no mention was made of the insects which make life
a burden in the short, hot summer of the interior. Horseflies,
gnats and mosquitos nearly drive men and beasts wild. The
horsefly is larger and more " pointed " than the insect of the
same name in the States. In dressing or undressing it has the
pleasant habit of detecting any bare spot in the body and biting
out a piece of flesh, leaving a wound which in a few days later
looks like an incipient boil. Schwatka reports that one of his
party so bitten was completely disabled for a week. ''At the
moment of infliction," he adds, '' it was hard to believe that
one was not disabled for life."

The mosquitos, according to the same authority, are equally
distressing. They are especially fond of cattle, but without any
reciprocity of aflection. "According to the general terms of the
survival of the fittest and the growth of muscles most used to
the detriment of others," says the lieutenant in an unusual burst

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. ,^17

of humor, *' a band of cattle inhabiting this district in the far
future would be all tail and no body, unless the mosquitos should
experience a change of numbers."

Mrs. Schwatka, in speaking of the trials of the miner's life,
touches on his sufferings from these insect pests in these words :

" Again in summer the work of the miner is difficult. As I
have said the interior country is tundra land — that is, the earth
is frozen to a great depth, never entirely thawing out. Wherever
the sun strikes the surface, great pools of muddy water are
formed, and this prevents any sort of prospecting. These pools
of stagnant water breed great swarms of mosquitos and gnats,
which make it desirable to cover the head with mosquito netting,
or better still, adopt the Indian method, and smear the hands
and face with a mixture of grease and soot, which prevents the
pests from biting. At some seasons in this country they are in
such dense swarms that at night they will practically cover a
mosquito netting, fairly touching each other and crowding
through any kind of mesh. I have heard it asserted by people
of experience that they form co-operative societies and assist
each other through the meshes by pushing behind and pulling
in front. Others again say they are too mean for such generous
action."

Climate of Alaska.

The climate of the Alaskan coast regions is much milder, even
in the higher latitudes, than it is in the interior or in correspond-
ing latitudes on the Atlantic coast. This is easily explainea and
understood when the natural forces of production of this milder
temperature are contemplated.

The most important among them is the thermal current
resembling the Atlantic Gulf Stream, and known as the Japanese
or Kuro Siwo, or Black Water. It has its origin under the
equator near the Molucca and Philippine Islands, passes north-

31^ JFLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

ward along the coast of Japan, and crosses the Pacific to the
southward of the Aleutian Islands, after sending a branch
through Behring Sea. On the coast of British Columbia it
divides again, one branch turning north toward Sitka, and thence
westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin Islands.

The comparatively warm waters of these currents affect the
temperature of the superjacent atmosphere, which, absorbing
the latent heat, c::rries it to the coast with all its mollifying
effects. Thus the oceanic and atmospheric currents combine in
mitigating the coast climate of Alaska, while the almost impene-
trable barrier of lofty mountains deflects the ice-laden northern
gales from the interior.

The mean winter temperature of Sitka is slightly above 30
degrees, while that of Portland, Maine, is about 27 degrees.
The lowest in winter in 1889, in Sitka, was 3 degrees; in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, 7 degrees ; and in Portland, Maine, 1 5 degrees.

Weather Bureau Report.

Under the direction of Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson,
Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, makes public
the following :

" The general conception of Alaskan climate is largely due to
those who follow the se?., and this is not strange when we con-
sider the vast extent of short line (over 26,000 miles) possessed
by that territory.

" The climate of the coast and the interior is unlike in many
respects, and the differences are intensified in this, as, perhaps,
in few other countries, by exceptional physical conditions.

" The natural contrast between land and sea is here tremend-
ously increased by the current of warm water that impinges on
the coast of British Columbia, one branch flowing northward
toward Sitka, and thence westward to the Kadiak and Shumagin

ai9

320 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

Islands. The fringe of islands that separates the mainland from
the Pacific Ocean, from Dixon Sound northward, and also a strip
of the mainland for possibly twenty miles back from the sea,
following the sweep of' the coast as it curves to the northwest-
ward, to the western extremity of Alaska, form a distinct
climatic division which may be termed temperate Alaska.

" The temperature rarely falls to zero. Winter does not set
in until December i st, and by the last of May the snow has dis-
appeared, except on the mountains. The mean winter tempera-
ture of Sitka is 32.5 degrees, but little less than that of Washing-
ton, D. C. While Sitka is fully exposed to the sea influences,
places farther inland, but not over the coast range of mountains,
as Killisnoo and Juneau have also a mild temperature throughout
the winter months.

Small Changes of Temperature.

" The temperature changes from month to month in Alaska
are small, not exceeding 25 degrees from midwinter to mid-
summer. The average temperature of July, the warmest month
of summer, rarely reaches 5 5 degrees, and the highest tempera-
ture for a single day seldom reaches 75 degrees.

** The rainfall of temperate Alaska is notorious the world over,
and not only as regards the quantity but also as to the manner
of its falling — viz. : in long and incessant rains and drizzles.
Cloud and fog naturally abound, there being on an average but
sixty-six clear days in the year.

" Alaska is a country of striking contrasts, both in climate as
well as topography. When the sun shines the atmosphere is
remarkably clear, the scenic effects are magnificent ; all nature
seems to be in holiday attire. But the scene may change very
quickly. The sky becomes overcast, the winds increase in
force, rain begins to fall, the evergreens sigh ominously, and
utter desolation and loneliness prevail.

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 321

*' North of the Aleutian Islands the coast climate becomes
more rigorous in winter, but in summer the difference is much
less marked. Thus, at St. Michael's, a short distance above the
mouth of the Yukon, the mean summer temperature is 50
degrees, but four degrees cooler than Sitka. The mean summer
temperature of Point Barrow, the most northerly point in the
United States, is 36.8 degrees, but four-tenths of a degree less than
the temperature of the air flowing across the summit of Pike's
Peak, Colorado. The rainfall of the coast region north of the
Yukon delta is small, diminishing to less than ten inches with'^A
the Arctic Circle.

** The climate of the interior, including in that designatior
practically all of the country except a narrow fringe of coasta'
margin and the territory before referred to as temperate Alaska
is one of extreme rigor in winter, with a brief but relatively hot
summer, especially when the sky is free from cloudr,.

" In the Klondike region in midwinter the sun rises from 9:3c
to 10 A.M. and sets from 2 to 3 p. m., the totr.l length of day-
light being about four hours. Remembering that the sun rises
but a few degrees above the horizon, and that it is wholly
obscured on a great many days, the character of the winter
months may easily be imagined.

Temperature or. Yukon.

" We are indebted to the United States Coast and Geodetic
Survey for a series of six months' observations on the Yukon,
not far from the site of the present gold discoveries. The obser-
vations were made with standard instruments, and are wholly
reliable. The mean temperature of the months October, 1889, to
April, 1890, both inclusive, areas follows: October, 33 degrees;
November, 8 degrees ; December, 1 1 degrees, below zero ; Jan-
uary, 1 7 below zero February. 1 5 below zero ; March, 6 above ;
21

322 FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE.

April, 2p above. The daily mean temperature fell and remained
below the freezing point (32 degrees) from November 4, 1889, to
April 21, 1890, thus giving 168 days as the length of the closed
season of 1 889-' 90, assuming that outdoor operations are con-
trolled by temperature only. The lowest temperatures registered
during the winter were : Thirty-two degrees below zero in No-
vember, 47 below in December, 59 below in January, 55 below
in February, 45 below in March, and 26 below in April.

"The greatest continuous cold occurred in February, 1890,
when the daily mean for five consecutive days was 47 below zero.

" Greater cold than that here noted has been experienced in
the United States for a very short time, but never has it continued
so very cold for so long a time in the interior of Alaska. The
winter sets in as early as September, when snow-storms may be
expected in the mountains and passes. Headway during one of
these storms is impossible, and the traveler who is overtaken by
one of them is indeed fortunate if he escapes with his life.
Snow-storms of great severity may occur in any month from
September to May, inclusive.

" The changes of temperature from winter to summer are
rapid, owing to the great increase in the length of the day. In
May the sun rises at about 3 A. m. and sets about 9 p. m. In
June it rises about half-past i in the morning and sets about half-
past 10, giving about twenty hours of daylight and diffuse twi-
light the remainder of the time.

" The mean summer temperature in the interior doubtless
ranges between 60 and 70 degrees, according to elevation, being
highest in the middle and lower Yukon valleys."

Dominion Climate.

Describing the country in the coast range mountains near
Taiya Inlet, Dominion Surveyor Ogilvie writes :

FLORA, FAUNA AND CLIMATE. 323

•* It is said by those familiar with the locality that the storms
which rage in the upper altitudes of the coast range during the
greater part of the time from October to March arc terrific. A
man caught in one of them runs the risk of losing his life, unless
he can reach shelter in a short time.

" During the summer there is nearly always a wind blowing
from the sea up Chatham Strait and Lynn Canal, which lie in
almost a straight line with each other, and at the head of Lynn
Canal are Chilkat and Chilkoot Inlets. The distance from the
coast down these channels to the open sea is about 3 So miles.

The mountains on each side of the water confine the currents
of air, and deflect inclined currents in the direction of the axis
of the channel, so that there is nearly always a strong wind
blowing up the channel. Coming from the sea, this wind is
heavily charged with moisture, which is precipitated when the
air current strikes the mountains, and the fall of rain and snow
is consequently very heavy.

" In Chilkat Inlet there is not much shelter from the south

wind, which renders it unsafe for ships calling here. Captain

Hunter told me he would rather visit any other part of the coast

than Chilkat."

Mounted Police Report.

The report of the Canadian Mounted Police shows that on
twenty-four days during the winter of 1896-97, the thermometer
registered 50 degrees or more below zero. The report con-
tinues :

" Apparently the temperature first touched zero on November
loth, and the last zero recorded in the spring was on April 29th.

Between December 1 9th and February 6th it never rose above
zero. The lowest actual point, 65 degrees, occurred on January
27th and on twenty-four days during the winter the temperature
was below 50 degrees,"

CHAPTER XL
Industries and Industrial Development.

Chief Occupations of the Natives aud the Settlers — The Four Remarkable
Seal Islands — How the Animals Have Been Ruthlessly Slaughtered —
When the Fur is at Its Best— The Great Fishing Plants of the Country-
Alaska the Home of the Salmon — Cod and Other Fish Abound — Trap-
ping and Hunting on the Decline — Current Belief that the Outlook
for Lumbering is Not Good — Probability that this Opinion may be Re-
versed by Later Discovery — Trees on the Islands — Agricultural Develop-
ment one of the Great Needs at the Present Time — Land Simply Needs
Tilling — Vegetables and Berries Grown in Quantities — Reports of
Travelers.

^MiE resources of Alaska are, as has been shown in another
1 chapter, as diversified and remarkable as the surface of its
vast district. With a few noteworthy exceptions, how-
ever, these resources are largely undeveloped.

The country is so remote, its fastnesses have been so inaccessi
ble, the lack of transit facilities has imposed such a barrier on
imigration, that few are the hardy souls who have traversed its
boundless plains, its mighty rivers and its snow-capped mountains ;
and still fewer are the capitalists who have had the hardihood to
seek the country for investment.

The result is that in most lines of industry the possibilities of
the country are largely a matter of conjecture.

Two or three occupations received early attention and have
been followed systematically. The Russians recognized the value
of the fur-bearing animals and were pioneers in the enterprise
that John Jacob Astor made so memorable throughout the North-
west. The wealth of fish in the vast rivers of the country also
appealed to the commercial sense of the Russians. The same is
true of the seal islands, from which such revenue was derived in
the days of Russian occupation.

324

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 325

The mineral wealth of the Territory has only in a limited

measure tempted the capital of more civilized communities, with

the exception of gold mining. The story, therefore, of the in^

dustries of the country would be a meager one were it not in a

large measure told in the language of opinion and prophecy. A

resume is here given of the interests that have claimed attention

outside the gold fields, and a forecast of the future on other

lines.

The Four Seal Islands.

The much-talked-of seal islands are one of the features of
Alaska. These are four volcanic islands, which lie 220 miles
northwest of Unalaska. They are veiled in perpetual mists and
fogs in the summer season and are closely hedged round with
drift ice in winter. They are absolutely treeless, but arc covered
with moss and grass, and in the proper season are brilliant with
wild flowers.

Hundreds of thousands of seals gather annually on these
islands, and the slaughter grounds, where millions of seals have
been killed in the last century, are rarely visited except by those
engaged in the business and by a few hardy tourists. The odors
of these rookeries, as they are called, can be perceived far out at
sea, and not infrequently the barking of the animals is the mari-
ner's only guide in the dense fogs that settle over the waters.

No vessels other than those belonging to the government are
allowed to enter or even to approach the harbors. The largest
of the islands is called St. Paul, and is twelve miles long and
from six to eight miles wide. St. George Island, thirty miles
north, is a little smaller ; and between these two lie Otter and
Walrus Islands.

Practically the only inhabitants of the islands are the Aleuts,
who have rather tidy villages, Greek churches and school houses.
The islands are the government reserve, and are leased by the

326 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

United States Treasury Department for the term of twenty years.
It has been said, and that with truth, that for over a century
these four islands have yielded more wealth than any gold mine
in the world.

With the settlement of the northwest coast, however, the pros-
perity of the islands has somewhat diminished, for the reason
that the seals have been exterminated ruthlessly.

A word here about the discovery of these islands. For forty
years Siberian traders hunted for the fabled island of Amik, where,
it was believed, the sea bears lived. In 1786 Gerassim Pribylov
heard the barking of the animals through the fog and found the
summer home of the fur seals. It is said that 2,000,000 seals
were killed that year, and the wholesale destruction of the animals
has practically kept up ever since, barring a short interim when
steps were taken of a preventive character to allow the rookeries
time to recuperate .

In 1835 the islands were ringed with ice so that the seals
could not land and their offspring died in the surf with their
mothers. Some years later the herd was nearly extinct again.
In 1844 Sir George Simpson found the company having control
over the islands taking from 200,000 to 300,000 skins annually.
The market at that time was so overstocked that the skins did
not pay for carrying.

In cases of a glut of the market there have been times when
from 700,000 to 1,000,000 skins were thrown into the sea to
keep prices up. It was not until about the time of the transfer
of the country to the United States that the vast importance of
these four little islands was realized.

Seven Companies at Work.

No protection was afforded them in 1868, and at that time
seven companies had the privilege of devastating the islands and

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 327

slaughtering the animals. The next year, however, the islands
were declared a Government reserve, and a guard of soldiers
was stationed there. In 1870 the islands of St. Paul and St.
George and the seal fisheries were leased for a period of twenty
years to the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco.
This company had previously purchased all the buildings and
the good will of the Russian-American Fur Company through-
out Alaska.

The company was permitted to kill 100,000 se^^ls each year,
80,000 on St. Paul and 20,000 on St. George, for an annual
rental of 5 5 5, 000. It is believed that the company divided from
;^900,ooo to $ 1 ,000,000 profits each year between twelve original
stockholders. In 1890 a twenty-year lease was awarded to the
North American Commercial Company, of San Francisco, at an
annual rental of ;^ 100,000, a tax of $g.62 on each 100,000 skins
taken, the islands then to return over a million a year to the
Government, or 14 per cent, on Secretary Seward's investment.

Miss Skidmore points out the fact that pelagic sealing and
rookery raiding by the Victoria fleet had so diminished the herd
that the lessees were only permitted to take 20,000 animals the
first season, and for three seasons, while the seal question was a
matter of diplomatic discussion, only the few seals necessary for
the food supply of the natives were killed.

Fur at Its Best.

The seal fur, she also states, is in its best condition immedi-
ately on the arrival of the animals at the islands, but they assume
new coats in August, so that they are in fine condition when
they leave at the end of September. Only male seals from two
to four years of age are killed.

The bachelors herd alone, and the natives run in between
them and the water^ in the early morning, and drive them slowly

326 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

to the killing grounds, where they are dispatched by a blow on
the head. They are quickly bled and the skins taken to the
salting house.

It may be mentioned as a matter of interest that Miss Anna
Fulcomer, with whom an interview was given in another chap-
ter, had the privilege of visiting the seal islands and the killing
grounds. She crept up behind a herd of animals as they were
sleeping, and softly stroked the ears of a big male. Her caress
awakened the animal, and, with' hissing and barking, he roused
the rest of the herd, and the whole lot scampered off as fast as

they could.

The Fishing Industry.

The fisheries of the country have been one of the' leading
sources of wealth to the time of the discovery of gold. It is to
be remembered that productive as sealing has been, a limit has
been reached in that industry which makes it, and will for some
time make it, comparatively unproductive. The vast rivers of
Alaska, however, annually teem with a wealth of fish, and the
wholesale netting of them seems in nowise to diminish the
number.

. These fish vary in kind and are excellent in quality, and will,
therefore, remain a constant source of wealth to the populace.
In Southern Alaska and along the coast line many very large
canneries have long been in operation, and their output has been
something remarkable. There is no reason to believe that there
will be any falling off in this line of occupation. Thousands of
people of every nationality are engaged in the fisheries, the
product of which is sent all over the world.

Unlike the great mineral wealth of the country, which lies
hidden from view, and has to await some chance discovery, the
fish that abound in the waters are open to view, and hence, there
was no delay in the early development of this industry. Besides

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 32&

this, the canneries are for the most part located near the coast
line, and hence those engaged in the business were not compelled
to go hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles over snow-clad
plains and mountains.

It was not necessary, further, to import into the country
expensive machinery, and it was not difficult to get natives and
other laborers from all over the world to engage in the work of
catching the fish. As a consequence, Alaska soon built up a
trade in the line of fisheries that placed it on a rank with the
greatest fishing centres of the world.

Home of the Salmon.

Alaska is the home, practically, of the salmon, of which there
are five distinct varieties. It has been pointed out that the
Pacific salmon and the Pacific trout differ so from the Atlantic
species that the question has been raised whether there are true
salmon or trout on that coast, and whether any game laws can be
enforced under such names.

The king salmon is generally called the tyec, which rheans
chief. It averages from sixty to eighty pounds in the Stikine
River, and often exceeds one hundred pounds in the Yukon.
The fish commonly come in pairs and not in great schools, and
hence it is not the whole pack of any cr.nnery.

The red salmon is the blueback or Oregon Salmon, and is the
canners' favorite. It averages from six to ten pounds in weight,
comes in schools of vast size, and has flesh of a deep red color.
The silver salmon is the gamiest of the lot, and is the most
beautiful. Its (Icsh is pale, but has to be cared for almost imme-
diately. Otherwise it is unfit for canning purposes. The fish
always chooses clear water and shows a remarkable agility in
leaping waterfalls.

The humpbacked species is the most abundant. It averages

330 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

from five to ten pounds in weight, and has flesh of a pale color
which cooks soft, and hence is not very desirable for packing
purposes. This fish has been known to jump falls sixteen feet
high. In addition to these salmon there are the Dolly Vardcn
trout, which follow the salmon in from the sea to devour their
eggs, and the cut-throat trout, which are often used at the
canneries.

Cod in Numbers.

The cod, which abound in Chatham Creek, are among the
more important fish of the territory. The natives used to receive
two cents apiece for the 8000 or 10,000 fish of five pound aver-
age, which they brought in daily from their trawls. The cod arc
dried artificially, and an excellent quality of cod liver oil is made.

Herring, too, which have been said to decide the destiny cf
nations, also abound in these waters. They come in great shoals
or schools, and it is a matter of record that once in August the
mail steamer passed through one school for four hours, the water
being silvered as far as could be seen with the fish.

The natives do not take the trouble to fish for them in the usual
way with the line and hook or even with nets. They simply rake
them out with a lath set with nails, and an Indian or two can
usually fill a canoe in an hour or so. The factory crew at Killis-
snoo often gets from 300 to 600 barrels of herring at a single
haul. Often 1000 barrels are seined at once, and it is not a
great while since 1 500 barrels were taken by one cast of the
seine in Sitka Harbor.

There is every reason to believe that the number of people
engaged in the fisheries in 1 898 will be greater than in any pre-
ceeding year. As is said, the fish come annually in shoals that
are simply marvelous in point of extent, and are thus wholly
unlike the animals that for a long time afforded a source of
revenue to the hunters and trappers.

331

332 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

It may be said here that hunting and trapping, while still pur-
sued in Alaska, is in a certain sense, a thing of the past. It is
true, that the country abounds in foxes and bears that make
trapping for a limited number a remunerative source of employ-
ment. But the work of the Russians in the early days of the
country's history and of the men employed by John Jacob Astor,
has largely reduced the number of animals which would make
hunting a profitable venture for a great number. The great
companies of the olden time live now only in recollection, and
it is thought there is little prospect that their activities will be
renewed.

Hunting for sport will doubtless for a long time, claim atten-
tion, but, even this, in the districts invaded by the prospectors
and miners, is likely to lose its charms, for reason that the lack
of fresh meats in the mining camps has virtually made every
miner and prospector a foe to the animals whose flesh may be
used for food. In whole sections of the country, where claims
are now being worked, it is almost impossible to find the first
sign of game.

Lumbering Prospects Not Good.

There also seems to be little prospect for a development of
the lumbering industry, since there is a marked unwillingness on
the part of capitalists to invest money in lumbering camps and
machinery unless the timber possibilities are such as to promise
good lumber in large amounts and under conditions that make
its handling not too expensive. This Alaska does not promise.
William Ogilvie, who made a thorough investigation of what
may be termed the timber lands of Alaska, speaks discourag.
ingly of the development of the lumbering industry. He says :

*' The amount of timber fit for use in building and manufac-
turing in the district along the river is not at all important.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 333

There is a large extent of forest which would yield firewood and
timber for use in mines, but for the manufacture of lumber there
is very little.

" To give an idea of its scarceness, I may state that two of
my party made a thorough search of all the timbered land
around the head of Lake Bennett, and down the lake for over
ten miles, and in all this search only one tree was found suitable
for making such plank as was required for the construction of
our large boat. This tree made four planks, fifteen inches wide
at the butt, seven at the top, and thirty-one feet long.

" Such other planks as we wanted had to be cut out of short
logs, of which some, ten to fourteen inches in diameter and ten
to sixteen feet long, could be found at long intervals. The boat
required only 450 feet of plank for its construction, yet some of
the logs had to be carried nearly 200 yards, and two saw-pits
had to be made before that quantity was procured, and this
on ground that was all thickly wooded with spruce, pine, and
some balsam, the latter being generally the largest and cleanest-
trunked.

Trees on the Islands.

" The great bulk of the timber in the district suitable for
manufacture into lumber is to be found on the islands in the
river. On them the soil is warmer and richer, the sun's rays
striking the surface for a much longer time and more directly
than on the banks.

334 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

than a square mile or so of that in any one place, and most of
the timber would be small and poor compared with the timber
of Manitoba and the easterly part of the northwest Territories.
" It may be said that the country might furnish much timber,
which, though not fit to be classed as merchantable, would meet
many of the requirements of the only industry the country is
ever likely to have, viz., mining."

Largely a Mining Region.

The general impression seems to be that, barring an enormous
fishing industry, and a possibly limited lumbering trade, the country
is destined to be largely a mining region. Still, the necessity of
providing food for the miners has forced upon the attention alike
of prospectors and capitalists the desirability of developing as far
as possible in the frozen north some form of agriculture and gar-
dening that will obviate the necessity of the mining community
living virtually the year round on canned goods that are imported
from the south.

It is true that a large portion of the Territory is covered a
good share of the year wit!h fields of ice and snow, but, while
there is a marked difference of opinion, there is ground for the
belief that the country has a future in an agricultural way quite
comparable with its future in other lines. As was shown in the
chapter on topography and climate, the shores of Alaska are
washed by an ocean current that sweeps across the Pacific from
the coasts of Japan, and, in consequence, southern Alaska and
much of the coast district has a climate comparable with that
which makes, for instance, the British Isles remarkable for their
fertility.

Sitka is no farther north than Edinburg, and the northern-
most point of Sweden is nearer the North Pole than the north-
ernmost point of Alaska. The great warm current that tempers

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 335

the climate of the Alaskan coast makes it, it is claimed by many, a
country in which agriculture may be followed as successfully as
in many of the older countries of the world, where the climate is
not essentially different.

Simply Lacks Tilling.

It is claimed by many that all that is lacking near the coast is
for the soil to be tilled, and that it can be made to produce prac-
tically the same products that grow in Norway, Sweden and
Great Britain. That the extreme northern plains, where the
mercury often falls to 80 or 90 degrees below zero, and where,
even in midsummer, the ground only thaws out two or three
inches, can be transformed into an agricultural region, there are
few to believe. But most people who have visited the country
believe there are fertile regions enough to support millions of
people.

Baranof, in the early days of the Russian occupation of the
country cleared fifteen kitchen gardens. He ripened barley and
potatoes and common vegetables, What is more, this has been
done every year since. If Alaska is a glacier-abounding and
snow-clad country, it is nevertheless true that fine grasses spring
up naturally on any clearing. Wild timothy and coarser grasses
commonly grow from three to four feet high, and clover thrives
about as luxuriantly as it does in more southern latitudes.

In the neighborhood of Vancouver the natives cultivate pota-
toes and a sort of tobacco. Each family has its little plantation
sheltered away in some nook. Here they plant their tubers and
sow their grain. Even in the barren regions of the north, Daw-
son City, Circle City and Klondike, it is a common practice of
the miners to grow turnips on the house tops. There the sun,
even in the depth of summer, only thaws out the ground two or
three inches, but by putting a generous covering of soil on the

336 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

house tops, so that it gets the heat from the dwelling beneath,
little trouble is experienced in maturing vegetables. Apparently
what is lost in intensity of heat is made up by the length of the
period which the sun shines.

Garden Vegetables Raised.

Since the United States occupation of the country it has been
a common practice of residents in the more settled parts to raise
radishes, lettuce, onions, cauliflowers, cabbages, peas, turnips,
beets, parsnips and celery. Single potatoes have been produced
weighing as much as a pound and five ounces. Hay is com-
monly cured throughout the entire southeastern portion of
Alaska, and this has been done since 1805. It is said that by
adopting Norwegian methods larger and better crops could be
cured.

By way of comparison it may be stated that wheat is cultivated
in Norway as far north as the 64th degree ; r}^e as far north as
the 69th degree ; barley and oats as far north as the 70th degree.
Apples, plums and cherries come to maturity there up to the 64th
and 65th degrees, while raspberries, strawberries, currants and
gooseberries thrive well at the North Cape, which is 7 1 degrees
10 minutes. It is an often forgotten fact that throughout South-
em Alaska, at least, there are two or three weeks of really hot
weather, when the mercury rises as high as 92 degrees.

Dr. John G. Brady, a Presbyterian missionary at Sitka,
expresses the belief that the country has an agricultural future.
Says he :

" The Kake Indians furnished the Russians with potatoes.
Some of the natives at Wrangel are clearing off garden patches
this year. Much can be done in this direction, for Alaska will
furnish vegetables for a teeming population. There are several
thousand acres in the neighborhood of this place upon which

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 337

the finest vegetables may be raised with certainty. The soil for
the most part is a vegetable mould mixed with sand.

" Mr. Smiegh, of this place, has had a garden for the last
seven years. He says he has grown cabbages weighing twenty-
seven pounds. He has tried peas, carrots, leeks, parsnips, tur-
nips, lettuce, radishes, onions, potatoes, parsley, celery, horse
radish and rhubarb. He has also tried cucumbers and beans,
but they did not do well. Cauliflowers and celery surpassed
any he raised in other places.

" The wild black currants abound in the woods. The tame
currants do well. Gooseberries do well and have a delicate
flavor. The cabbages grow wild and are six or eight inches in
diameter. Mr. Burns, who has had a garden for the last three
years, agrees with Mr. Smiegh. The strawberry grows wild
near Mount Edgecombe."

Missions in the Wilderness.

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, Commissioner of Education, who had
spent many years traveling the Alaskan Territory, was asked,
after the Klondike fever broke out and the grave difficulty of
supplying the mining colony with suitable food became a vital
problem, of his views of the agricultural possibilities of the coun-
try. It was Dr. Jackson, by the way, who, in company with
Mrs. McFarland, took the initial steps in establishing Presbyterian
missions in the wilderness.

His residence in Alaska was protracted and his work as a mis-
sionary took him to so many parts of the country that he had
ample means to observe climatic conditions and the most desirable
places for agricultural enterprise. He thoroughly agreed with
those who had the interest of the miners at heart that it was a
matter of prime importance to take immediate steps for supple-
menting the mining activities with agricultural enterprises that
22

338 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

would limit the possibilities of suffering and disease. Said he :
*• The warmest friends of Alaska do not claim that it is rich in
agricultural resources, or that it will agriculturally bear compari-
son with the rich valleys of the Mississippi River ; but they do
claim, that while there are large areas of mountains and unpro-
ductive land agriculturally, yet there are valleys and plains where
with suitable care many of the earlier vegetables, fruits and grains
can be raised.

Gardening is Common.

" On Kadiak, on adjacent islands and on the shores of Cook's
Inlet, where there are small Russian Creole settlements, they
have for three-quarters of a century supplied themselves with
vegetables and potatoes raised in their own gardens. During
recent years the government and mission teachers in Southeast
Alaska have in some instances had good vegetable gardens.

In Northern Alaska, less than lOO miles south of the Arctic
Circle, the teachers of the Swedish Evangelical mission at Un-
alaska in 1891 cleared four acres of ground, on which they raised
seventy bushels of potatoes. As that region has a frozen sub-
soil covered with a heavy coating of moss, the removal of the
moss and the cultivation of the ground will cause the soil to
thaw out at a greater depth than it would otherwise. So that
years of cultivation will cause the ground to yield much more
plentifully than when first cultivated."

Dr. Jackson gave some interesting illustrations of experiments
that have been tried in various parts of the country, all going to
prove that, difficult and unsatisfactory as agricultural experiments
for a time might be, they would ultimately prove a success and
be a great blessing. Continuing he said :

"[In 1887, on the site of Lake Labugo, on the headwaters of
the Yukon, over 2000 miles from Behring Sea, a missionary,
passing along, saw ten heads of volunteer wheat, nearly ripe, on

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 339

the twenty-second of August, in a place where some miners had
camped the year before and dropped the seed.

*• Not only in the mild belt of Southern Alaska, but also in
the Arctic and subarctic belt of Northern Alaska, various wild ber-
ries grow and ripen in profusion (cranberries, currants, raspberries,
huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries), and there is no ques-
tion that if the government places Alaska on an equal footing
with the other States and Territories in the establishment of one
or more experimental stations, it will be demonstrated that suffi-
cient vegetables can be raised for the consumption of its people.
And if there is found a section so far north that the profitable
raising of vegetables and grains becomes impossible, that region
can be utilized by the introduction of herds of domestic reindeer."

Would Introduce Reindeer.

Dr. Jackson is an ardent advocate of the introduction of rein-
deer into Alaska, as a means of solving the transit difficulties.
Up to the present time, practically the only means of transporta-
tion on leaving the coast, is either to go up the rivers durinig the
brief summer months, or to take the overland trails during the
remaining nine months of the year, using dogs as pack animals,
and as steeds for sledges. On the matter of introducing rein-
deer into the country. Dr. Jackson said :

" Taking Norway and Sweden, where complete statistics are
to be had, as a basis of calculation, and applying the same aver-
age to Alaska, it is found the country is capable of sustaining
9,200,000 head of reindeer, which will support a population of
287,500 living like the Laps of Lapland.

" The stocking of Alaska with tame reindeer means the open-
ing up of the vast and almost inaccessible central region of
Northern and Central Alaska to white settlers and civilization,
and the opening up of a vast commercial industry.

340 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

** Lapland, with 400,000 reindeer, supplies the grocery stores
of northern Europe with smoked reindeer hams, smoked tongues,
dried and tanned hides, and 23,000 carcasses per annum to the
butcher shoj)S. On the same basis, Alaska, with its capacity for
9,200,000 head of reindeer, can supply the markets of North
America with 500,000 carcasses of venison annually, together
with tons of delicious hams and tongues and finest leather.
Surely the creation of an industry worth from ;^8 3, 000,000 to
;^ 1 00,000,000 where none now exists is worthy the attention of
th-^ American people."

Testimony of Mr. Ogilvie.

The testimony of William Ogilvie, who made an official report
to the Dominion Government of the characteristics of the coun-
try, its resources and its possibilities, is of importance, and ex-
tracts are here given from that portion of the report bearing
upon feasibility of agricultural enterprises. Mr. Ogilvie is not an
enthusiast, and his statements may be taken as an impartial
account of the country by one who, trained in methods of obser-
vation, combines good judgment with the expedients of enforced
policy. As to the Yukon River and its valley Mr. Ogilvie says :

"The agricultural capabilities of the country along the river
are not great, nor is the land that can be seen from the river of
good quality. When we consider further the unsuitable climatic
conditions that prevail in that region, it may be said that as an
agricultural district this portion of the country will never be of
any value.

" Many meteorological records show over 8 degrees of frost
on August 1st, over 10 on the third, and four times during the
month the minimum temperature was below freezing.

''Along the east side of Lake Bennett, opposite the Chilkoot
or western arm, there are some flats of dry, gravelly soil, which

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 841

would make a few farms of limited extent. On the west side,

around the mouth of the Wheaton River, there is an extensive

flat of sand and gravel, covered with small pine and spruce of

stunted growth. •

Coarse Grass for Cattle.

"Along the western shore of Tagish Lake there is a large
extent of low, swampy flats, a part of which might be used for
the production of such roots and cereals as the climate would
permit. Along the west side of Marsh Lake there is also much
flat surface of the same general character, on which I saw some
coarse grass which would serve as food for cattle. Along the
east side the surface appeared higher and terraced, and is
probably 'less suited to the requirements of the agriculturist.

"Along the head of the river for some miles below Marsh
Lake, there are flats on both sides, which would, as far as surface
conformation goes, serve as farms. The soil is of much better
quality than any heretofore seen, as is proved by the larger and
thicker growth of. timber and underbrush which it supports.
The soil bears less the character of detritus, and more that of
alluvium, than that seen above.

" Some miles down the lake an extensive valley joins that of
the lake an the west side. This valley contains a small stream.
Around this place there is some land that might be useful, as the
grass and vegetation is much better than any seen so far.

On the lower end of the lake, on the west side, there is also a
considerable plain which might be utilized ; the soil in parts of it
is good. I saw one part where the timber had been burned
some time ago ; here both the soil and vegetation were good,
and two or three of the plants seen are common in this part of
Ontario, but they had not the vigorous appearance which the
same plants have here."

Mr. Ogilvie had not a little to say on the forestation of the

342 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

country and its possibilities in the line of lumber. Speaking of
the timber lands in the district considered in the passage just
quoted, he says :

'* Northward from the end of the lake there is a deep, wide
valley, which Dr. Dawson has named ' Ogilvie Valley.' In this
the mixed timber, poplar and spruce, is of a size which betokens
a fair soil ; the herbage, too, is more than usually rich for this
region. This valley is extensive, and, if ever required as an aid
in the sustenance of our people, will figure largely in the district's
agricultural assets.

** Below the lake the valley of the river is not as a rule wide,
and the banks are often steep and high. There are, however,
many flats of moderate extent along the river and at its con-
fluence with other streams. The soil of many of these is fair.

"About forty miles above the mouth of the Pelly River there
is an extensive flat on both sides of the Lewis. The soil here is
poor and sandy, with small open timber. At Pelly River there
is a flat of considerable extent on which the ruins of Fort Selkirk
stand. It is covered with a small growth of poplar and a few
spruce. The soil is a gravelly loam of about eight inches in
depth, the subsoil being gravel, evidently detritus. This flat ex-
tends up the river for some miles, but is all covered thickly with
timber, except a small piece around the site of the fort."

An Experimental Station.

There is every likelihood to believe that in the near future the
United States government will have an agricultural experimental
station in the valley of the Yukon. The desirability of such an
experimental farm growing out of the necessities and the hardships
of the mining populace was suggested by P. B. Weare, of the
North American Transportation and Trading Company. A
meeting was held in Chicago early in August, 1897, at which

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 343

the development of the agricultural resources of Alaska was ex-
haustively discussed.

Secretary Wilson was present and pledged himself to work for
the immediate establishment of such an experimental govern-
mental farm in the Yukon valley. He expressed it as his belief
that there would be little trouble in getting Congress to appro-
priate at least ;^ 1 5,000 for this purpose. So far. as he knew,
there was no reason why a trial in the line of developing agri-
cultural industries in Alaska should not be made early in the
spring of 1898.

Mr. Weare's plan contemplates the sending of a body of ex-
perienced farmers from the older and better settled States, and
putting into their hands every possible means for testing what can
be done in raising grains, fruits and vegetables. Secretary Wilson
was entirely in accord with Mr. Weare, and the behef was ex-
pressed that within a few years there will be thousands of acres
under cultivation at no great distance from the gold fields in the
Yukon valley.

Views Thought Utopian.

Many to whom this plan of establishing a government farm
was broached thought the views of Mr. Weare and Secretary
Wilson a little too Utopian. They thought it might be possible
to make a great success of farming in Southern Alaska, say, in
the neighborhood of Sitka, but considered that the climate was
too rigorous and the summer season too short for farming to be
a success along the Yukon and Klondike rivers. It was generally
conceded, however, that it would be a long step towards the
solution of the food problem if agriculture could be developed to
a large extent in tb.e southern portion of the territory, so that
the matter of transporting provisions to the camps would not be
so costly.

After the decision to establish the experimental farm had

344 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

been made, Secretary Wilson expressed himself as follows :
" I arn greatly interested in the development of Alaska. With
the aid of three experienced men, who are now in the Yukon
country, the Department of Agriculture is making extensive in-
vestigations, with a view of learning the value of the agricultural
resources of the principal valleys, and it is certain an experi-
mental farm will be established within a year near the junction
of the Yukon and Tanano rivers, or in some other favorable
location."

Projects of Individuals.

The same all-important work which the United States govern-
ment will take upon its hands and push will probably receive
great assistance from private enterprises. Scarcely had the
Klondike fever broken out, and reports as to the difficulty of get-
ting good wholesome food at the mining camps had been brought
south, when Swan Frederickson, a hardy Norseman, who had
served for years with the Hudson Bay Company, came forward
with a proposition for a company to be called The Alaska Set-
tlement Company, whose aim it should be to encourage imigra-
tion and foster agriculture in the country immediately south of
the Yukon.

Frederickson said that he had lived too long in Alaska not to
know what he was about, and that he was satisfied that with
ample capital and judicious methods of procedure the population
of the territory could be greatly increased and thousands of acres,
that now are of no use whatever, could be reclaimed and made
to subserve the comfort and happiness of the people. He said
it only wanted pluck, enterprise and perseverance to make Alaska
from the southern limit virtually to the Yukon River one of the
happiest agricultural regions in America.
• With a capital of ;^ 100,000 Frederickson is positive he can
start some thrifty settlements of Norsemen farmers, and the com-

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 345

pany will make plenty of money by a monopoly of town site
and commercial privileges. He insists that a good business can
be done in raising beef, mutton, hardy vegetables and horse fod-
der for the thousands of miners who are pouring into Alaska.
The number to be fed will increase rapidly from now on, and
Frederickson waxes enthusiastic in discussing the possibilities of
his scheme ; but there is no capital yet in sight for starting the

work.

Farming Not Enticing.

Farming in Alaska does not sound like a particularly enticing
proposition, but there are other enthusiasts besides Frederickson
who are pushing the idea. They not only maintain that grains
and grasses can be raised in some parts of the Territory, but
even talk about vegetables and fruits. What's more, they quote
Joaquin Miller's letters in support of their scheme.

Ranch booming in southern California in its palmiest days
never had more earnest advocates than these men who are try-
ing to develop the agricultural and horticultural possibilities of
Alaska. They have no land to sell there, but they want to go
into the farming business under the shade of Mount St. Elias or
some other favored spot, and would like some capital to make a
start on, with big profits later on for all interested parties.

As a berry-growing region Alaska has greater promise than
would be supposed for a country part of which lies beyond the
Arctic Circle. At present it is reported there is but one fruit
tree growing in that climate, it being a wild crabapple, which is
not palatable. Whether or not the hardier forms of apples
growing in the Northern States will thrive and the fruit come to
maturity on the prairies along the Yukon is a question. But a
great variety of berries do grow, and many of them grow wild.

Strawberries, cranberries, gooseberries, raspberries and huckle-
berries not infrequently attain great size. A berry unknown in

346 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

southern regions, the roseberry, which grows on a species of
rosebush, abounds in the Alaskan valleys. These berries are
said to be delicious. They grow in large quantities in Russia,
where the natives make preserves that they prize most highly.
For some time large invoices of cranberries grown in Alaska
have been received and sold in the markets of San Francisco.

It is reasonable to suppose that when small fruits grow wild in
such abundance they can be easily cultivated and produce a
profitable crop. Indeed, it is believed that more money can be
made in raising berries there than in mining gold — at all events
there is less risk of loss. Turnips, radishes, potatoes, and cab-
bages can be raised in the climate, it is believed.

Industries Largely Transformed.

An enterprise was proposed early in August, 1897, with the
purpose of making the raising of dogs a distinct and separate
enterprise or industry in Alaska, somewhat on the line of Dr.
Jackson's proposition to introduce reindeer as a means of solving
the transportation problem. The enterprise grew out of the
scarcity of sledge dogs on the overland routes.

A kennel owner offered to furnish a stock of draft dogs and
take in payment part cash and the rest in the stock of the com-
pany which he proposed to organize. There was no intention of
introducing any of the breeds of dogs commonly found in the
Southern States. These it was said would be wholly worthless
for the purpose for which animals are needed "in Alaska. On the
contrary, dogs used in Siberia and other countries too cold for
horses, would be imported and bred in such numbers as to sup-
ply the demand and make the enterprise a success from a finan-
cial standpoint.

Short as is the history of Alaska, it will be seen that its indus-
tries and its commercial enterprises have been practically trans-

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 347

formed since the first days of Russian occupation, and it will
also be seen that there is every prospect that the transformation
will be still greater during the two or three years, following the
discovery of gold in the Yukon Valley. Of the first commer-
cial enterprises carried on in the country practically only one
survives to-day in a hopeful and remunerative way. Seal fishing,
as has been shown, has had its day of rise and decadence. The
time was when hundreds of thousands of valuable skins in .
periods of glutted market were thrown into the sea for the mere
purpose of keeping up the prices. To-day while sealing is still
carried on, it is carried on in a way so limited as to contrast
strangely with the former days of intense activity in this industry.

The Seal Fisheries.

The same is true of hunting and trapping on the mainland.
The yearly output is now in no wise comparable with that of the
palmy days of the Russian Fur Company and the American Fur
Company. The falling away in sealing is due to the wholesale
slaughter of the animals, for whose preservation the Government
was obliged to take the strictest measures. It is altogether
probable that with a wise policy in limiting the number of seals
killed for their furs, sealing may in future years be as profitable
as ever. It is not deemed probable that hunting and trapping
wild animals on the mainland for their furs will ever be what it
once was.

The fishing industry on the coast and along the rivers is
bound, it is said, to continue, not merely holding its own, but
developing into ever increasing enterprises. There is much
to be hoped for in the timber districts, for despite the adverse
reports that have been made on the forestation of the country,
it must be remembered that there are whole regions where
the white man has scarcely set foot. What these unknown

348 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT.

regions may contain is now a mere matter of conjecture. The
history of lumbering in the United States shows that this industry
is a mere growth dependent upon exploration and subsequent
enterprise. It is not unlikely that lumbering in the wilds of
Alaska will develop into something which even the most sanguine
to-day little suspect.

Mining and Agriculture.

In view of the excitement incident to the discovery of gold in
the Yukon Valley and the impetus it has given, not merely to
the work of prospectors and miners, but to that of scientific
investigators, the probability is that the leading industry of Alaska
for many years to come will be that of mining. And directly
connected with and dependent upon it, there is likelihood also of
a marked development of agricultural pursuits.

Until early in 1897, when travelers returned from Alaska and
were asked what the chief occupations of the people were, they
would say, of course, fishing and hunting. But the mere fortu-
nate discovery of golden treasure in the ground will likely give
a new trend to the entire development of the country. To shoot
and trap and fish was naturally both the amusement and the
employment of the Indians and Esquimeaux and such white
men as ventured into the country on trips of exploration.

But with the white man as a hunter for gold instead of for
animals, it was a different matter. He came, he saw, he dug,
and in digging he found riches. The glittering gold greeted his
eyes and the fever of gold fell upon the whole country. It is
the common belief that this malady, engendered by good fortune,
will shape the destinies of Alaskaj and transform it from an
unknown wilderness of plains and valleys and mountain peaks
and glaciers into one of the most remarkable and important
mining and agricultural regions of the world.

CHAPTER XII.
Resources and Wealth.

Record as a Fur Country — State of Development Twenty Years Ago — How
the Golden Treasures were Discovered and Developed — Report of Geo-
logical Survey Expert Spurr — Professor Elliott's Review — Alaska Richer
than Klondike — West of the Coast Range — Mint Director Preston's
Views — United States Leads the World in Gold Production — From the
Alaska Mining Record — Value of Yukon Gold — Cook's Inlet Diggings
— Some Scattered Streaks — Experts in the Field^ohn W. Mackey
Quoted — Other Mineral Resources — Canadian Report.

JN I S6y most people who freed their minds had only hard
things to say of " Russian America," which the policy of
William H. Seward had just incorporated in the territorial
area of the United States. Seven millions, even in those days of
" war prices," seemed a large sum to throw away, and all but a few
long-headed men regarded as clearly thrown away money used
to acquire that reputed ice-locked land of bergs and glaciers.
They were certain no good thing could come out of it, and. their
expectations of returns on the nation's investment were circum-
scribed by estimates of the interest on the purchase price which
the fur industry would probably pay. That there was or ever
would be anything in the " great country" except fur, was not a
canon of the popular faith. And faith was the largest ingredient
in the logic with which Seward supported his project — faith in
the still hidden treasures of that vast terra incognita, which, it
seems, has waited thirty years for justification.

Repellant to the immigrant as Alaska has seemed for most
of three decades, it would appear likely that the region is about to
be shown as one of the rich areas of the nation. The gold
craze on the Canadian Klondike has not only served to stimulate
the news of other gold discoveries in the adjacent United States

349

350 , RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

territory, but has brought to light before the public the existence
of other wealth producing resources within the old Russian
colony which have hitherto been known or guessed at only by a
few, and which promise well for development.

What are the resources of Alaska ?

First, of course, in present importance are the mineral deposits
and here gold is at the head of the list. There is silver, too, as
usual, associated with the more precious metal. Besides these
there are copper, iron, lead, plumbago, marble, coal, sulphur,
bismuth, kaolin fireclay, gypsum and petroleum.

Allied to these minerals are many gems, among them the
famous Alaskan diamonds, garnets, amethysts, zeolites, agates
and cornelians. Fossil ivory is frequently found, and it has been
claimed by scientific men that the ivory finds in the frost beds of
Siberia might probably be duplicated in Alaska as the result of
systematic prospecting for these treasures of extinct pachyderms.

Vegetable and Animal.

The resources of Alaska in the vegetable kingdom cover a
\ong Hst of valuable woods, the cedars especially being unsur-
passed. Small fruits are plentiful in the southeastern or Sitkan
portion, and experiments within a few years give hopes that
agriculture and stock-raising are not impossible industries, but
they lack the confirmation of extensive experience.

In the animal kingdom furs from amphibious and land animals
are the principal sources oi wealth. The whale fisheries have
hitherto been profitable industries, but the extermination of the
" right " whale by the hunters and the market for oil and ** bone "
have latterly reduced the value of this industry as a resource. The
salmon, which abound in Alaskan waters, have developed two great
industries in canning and salting, and the cod fisheries on the great
banks along the Aleutian chain are important. There are many

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 851

other food fishes, also, ample for local consumption, but of a com-
mercial value not yet ascertained. It has been said there is
"more fish than water in Alaska;" but this may be taken as
hyperbole. As to the food animals, a project is under way to
introduce reindeer into the country for the value there may be
in their hides and meat, but the scheme is still in the experi-
mental stage.

In any estimate of either the resources or the native and
natural wealth of Alaska, it should be borne in mind that no
systematic development has yet taken place along any lines
except the fur and salmon industries. Except in the Sitkan
region, the exploitation of the gold area has been more acci-
dental than designed, and comparatively no attention has been
paid to the other minerals. There are no statistics from which
to compile comparative tables, and all statements must perforce
partake of the nature of generalities. The Russians had no use
for Alaska except for its furs, and for ten years after the terri-
tory had passed from the dominion of the double-headed eagle
to that of the one-headed bird of Uncle Sam the new owners
had no definite idea that they had bought anything more valu-
able than fur seals and sea otters.

Twenty Years Ago.

In 1 877 Henry W. Elliott wrote as follows of the new Territory :
" At present, however, beyond the fur trade, there is nothing
doing whatever in Alaska — no settlers, no mines, no mills. If
we ever utilize the spruce and fir timber on the Sitka coast we
must encourage and foster the effort in the line of ship-building,
for this timber is too gummy and resinous for the ordinary use
of house-building and furniture-making. If gold or silver is dis-
covered in Alaska it must be of unusual richness, or it will never
support any considerable body of men up there, so far away

352 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

from the sources of necessary supply. The reputed Alaska
gold mines are not in Alaska at all."

Mr. Elliott was a noted and shrewd observer, and he had had
ten years acquaintance with Alaska, but Birch Creek and Forty-
Mile were then unheard of, and even the auriferous riches of
Douglas Island were not dreamed of.

Gold on Douglas Island.

Gold-bearing rock was discovered on Douglas Island in 1880,
and the next year the famous Treadwell mine was located there
in the largest solid body of ore on the Coast. The deposit is a
mountain of gold-bearing quartz, worked from the surface like
an ordinary stone quarry. The ore only runs from three dollars
to seven dollars to the ton, but as it costs one dollar and a quar-
ter or less a ton to mill it, the property is considered one of the
most profitable mines in the world. The largest stamp mill in
the world, running 240 stamps, handles the output.

Following the location of the Treadwell mines other gold
areas were discovered, and it soon became well known on the
coast that there was yellow dust in many portions of the '* Pan-
Handle," and also in the Yukon Basin, though the rigor of the
climate and the remoteness of the diggings from bases of sup-
plies long kept the country from being developed in response to
the impulse of the discoveries.

Then came the placers around Circle City and Fort Cudahy,
and hard after them the marvelous strikes in the Klondike just
across the border, and the golden future of Alaska was an estab-
lished fact.

The report on the Yukon gold region by Josiah Edward
Spurr, the geological survey expert, who headed a party that
made a thorough investigation in Alaska last summer, gives new
facts about the interior . It says as to the Forty-Mile gold dis-

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 353

trict that in the latter part of 1887 gold was struck in Franklin
Gulch, and ever since it has been a constant payer. The dis-
covery of Davis Creek and a stampede from Franklin Gulch
followed in the spring of 1888. In 1891 gold mining in the
interior, as well as on the coast, at Silver Bow Basin and Tread-
well, received a great impetus. The event of 1892 was the
discovery of Miller Creek. In the spring of 1893 many new
claims were staked, and it is estimated that eighty men took out
^100,000. Since then Miller Creek has been the heaviest pro-
ducer of the Forty-Mile district, and until recently of the whole
Yukon. Its entire length lies in British possessions. The output
for 1893, as given by the Mint Director, for the Alaskan creeks,
all but Miller Creek being in American possessions, was ;^ 198,000,
with a mining population of 196.

The total amount produced by the Yukon placers in 1 894 was
double that of the previous year. In 1895 the output had
doubled again.

Forty-Mile district in the summer of 1896 is described in the
report as looking as if it had seen its best days, and unless
several new creeks are discovered it will lose its old position.

Large Profits Reported.

The Birch Creek district was last summer in a flourishing
condition. Most of the gulches were then running, miners were
working on double shifts, night and day, and many large profits
were reported. On Mastadon Creek, the best producer, over
thirty miners were at work, many expecting to winter in the
gulch. As to hydraulicking, the report says : " Some miners
have planned to work this and other good ground supposed to
exist under the deep covering of moss and gravel in the wide
valley of the Mammoth and Crooked creeks by hydraulicking,
the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and Mastadon creeks
23

354 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

near the head. It will be several years before the scheme can
be operated, because both of the present gulches are paying well
and will continue do so for at least five years."

Expert Spurr's report on the Klondike district is as follows :
" With the announcement of gold here in the winter of 1 896-
97 there was a genuine stampede to the new region. Forty-
Mile was almost deserted. *But 350 men spent the winter on
the Klondike, in the gulches and at the new town of Dawson.
The more important parts of the district are on the Bonanza and
Hunker creeks. According to the latest information 400 claims
have been located up to January i, 1897 ; about half as many on
Hunker Creek. There is plenty of room for many more pros-
pectors and miners, for the gulches and creeks which have
shown good prospects spread over an area of 700 square miles.
The estimated Alaskan gold production for 1896 is ;^ 1,400,000.

Professor Elliott Again.

It is interesting at this point to see how Professor Elliott's
views have changed between 1877 and 1897. Here is what he
said last summer of Alaska :

" My experience in the Klondike region leads me to believe
that while there is considerable gold in the crevices and along
the rivers, washed down for ages from the mountains by attri-
tion and the glacial displacements, the * pockets ' in which large
quantities are to be found, including nuggets and much pure
gold, are comparatively few. One man may find a * pocket,'
and get thousands from it, while hundreds of others may toil
near by for a few dollars' worth of metal a day. I understand
there are now about 7,000 people in the Klondike region seek-
ing for gold, while hundreds of others are flocking there as fast
as possible. Mark my word, you will hear of a lot of disgusted
men returning to the States next spring, having failed to ' strike

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 355

it rich,* as they, had hoped. I would advise no man who is estab-
lished in business here, who is married, or who has any respon-
sibility resting upon him, to go to the new gold fields.

"Alaska is a healthful country, there being no malaria or
mountain fever. A curious fact is that any one afflicted with
neuralgia or rheumatism is completely cured of it in that cli-
mate. The clear, dry atmosphere and the rapid changes of the
body's tissues doubtless account for this. One's appetite is tre-
mendous in that climate. A man will eat four times as much
food as he does here and not feel uncomfortable.

** There is plenty of fuel, poplar, beech and fir trees lining
the numerous streams. Of course, the culling and hauling of
timber make it very expensive. Houses are nothing but log
huts, two or three feet of which are below ground, with earth
banked about the sides and even over the roofs. Eight or ten
miners will lie down to sleep on the rude bunks within these
cabins, wrapped in their heavy blankets."

Alaska Richer than Klondike.

A scientific expert of the Coast Survey, who knows what he
is talking about from experience, believes Alaska is richer than
the Klondike. He sums up his reasons thus :

*'A study of the map convinces me that the greater part of the
gold fields of the extreme Northwest will finally be found within
the limits of our territory. I went through Alaska as a member
of the boundary commission, and am very familiar with the valley
of the Yukon and the surrounding country. The greatest activity
in placer mining is now in the British possessions, about forty
miles east of the 141st meridian, which is our boundary. But if
you look at the map and see where gold has been found, you
will observe that all the lodes seem to lead into Alaska.

"There is a certain regularity about gold findings. South of

356 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

the Klondike in British Columbia is the Cariboo region, which
was the scene of a former gold excitement. Crews on vessels
deserted, and there was the same sort of a rush, on a smaller
scale, that we have seen in the Klondike. Then directly east of
the ' Pan- Handle ' of our Alaska territory is the celebrated Cas-
siar country. Here are the headwaters of the Pelly River, and
the confluence of the Lewis and the Pelly makes the Yukon. The
richness of the Cassiar country has long been known, and it be-
longs to the same general trend,- geologically speaking, as the
Klondike. This trend is parallel to the west coast of the conti-
nent. Wherever the tributaries of these rivers have been pros-
pected gold has generally been found. Forty-Mile Creek, Sixty-
Mile Creek and Birch Creek are instances in point. The
headwaters of all these streams are in a group of mountains, the
area of which is probably a thousand square miles. It is mostly
unexplored, but largely within the territory of the United States,
and it is probably rich in gold. Of the country farther north we
know little as yet, although it is well watered, and belongs to the
same mountain range. It is entirely Hkely that placer mining
can be carried on through this country for a distance of 500

miles.

West of Coast Range.

" Besides this trend of gold country parallel to the west coast,
it will be observed that there is another remarkable region west
of the coast range, which converges into the same Alaskan
territory. Beginning at Juneau there is a great deal of quartz
mining and near that town the largest stamp mill in the world has
been built. The ore is a low grade, yielding only about $2.50 a
ton, but it can at that figure be very profitably worked. At
Yakutat Bay, right under JMount St. Elias, there is considerable
placer mining, and at Cook's Inlet, farther north, still more.
Compared with the region in Alaska, which now seems likely

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 357

to be rich in gold, the California territory was very small.
" I am much impressed with the opportunities for profit in
other things in Alaska besides this gold. The fisheries of the
coast are most remarkable, and when fully developed may yield
larger returns than the mines. Then the coal, now that a popu-
lation is going into the country which will want to use it, is a
very important thing. Some system of easy transportation
across country, from one river to another, might be profitably
established. The inhabitants of the Yukon Valley will always
have to draw their food supplies from the outside. That is one
of the most desolate regions on the face of the earth. Game is
very scarce. The Jndian population is slight, which proves how
difficult it must be to get food."

Rich Finds in Alaska.

F. G. H. Bowker, one of the returned Yukoners, who brings
back nearly ^^40,000 in gold dust, the result of six months'
work, is authority for the statement that on the American side
of the international boundary placer fields have been found
which even put those of the Klondike into the shade.

When his party was descending the Yukon on the return from
Dawson City the steamship was intercepted by a man who
desired to send letters and papers back to civilization. This man
was one of a party who had gone down the river from Dawson
in the hope of locating rich beds of which Indians in the vicinity
had been telling. The members of the party were well known to
the Yukoners and full credence is given to the story.

Bowkerand his associates were told that just across the Alaska
boundary, on the American side, the party had found placer
fields fabulously rich in gold. They had staked out claims and
begun to work them.

** Every one of us has taken out thousands of dollars in dust

358 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

and nuggets already," said Bowker's informant, " and there
seems no limit to the gold in sight. It is more abundant than
on the Klondike and easier to work, the gold being very near
the surface of the ground. We are all rich already, but we are
going to stay through next winter."

Further information was conveyed that there were only white
men in the new district, and they had the field practically to
themselves. They advised Bowker and his companions to for-
sake Klondike claims on their return from the States and take
claims in the new diggings.

The point at which the fortunate treasure-hunters are working
is northwest of Dawson and but a few miles \yest of the bound-
ary. Their claims are in a valley of one of the numerous creeks
emptying into the Yukon.

Mint Director's Report.

Director of the Mint Preston, in a report on the gold of Alaska
and the adjoining Klondike territory, which may fairly be con-
sidered at the same time as the Alaskan auriferous area, since
the lodes and placiers of one are for practical purposes precisely
similar to those of the other, says :

''That gold exists in large quantities in the newly discovered
Klondike district is sufficiently proven by the large amount re-
cently brought out by the steamship companies and miners
returning to the States who went into the district within the last
eight months. So far ;^ 1,500,000 in gold from the Klondike
District has been deposited at the mints and assay offices of the
United States, and from information now at hand there are sub-
stantial reasons for believing from ;^3, 000,000 to ;^4,ooo,ooo
additional will be brought out by the steamers and returning
miners sailing from St. Michael's the last of September or early
October next. One of the steamship companies states that it

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 359

expects to bring out about ;^2,ooo,ooo on its steamer sailing from
St. Michael's on September 30th, and has asked the government
to have a revenue cutter act as a convoy through the Behring
Sea. In view of the facts above stated, I am justified in estima-
ting that the Klondike District will augment the world's gold
supply in 1897 nearly ;^6,ooo,ooo.

Richness of the Klondike.

"The gold product of the Dominion of Canada for 1896, as
estimated by Dr. G. M. Dawson, Director of the Geological
Survey of that country, was ;^2,8 10,000. Of this sum the
Yukon placers, within British territory, were credited with a pro-
duction of ^355,000. The total product of that country for
1897 has been estimated at ;^ 1 0,000,000, an increase over 1896
of ;^7, 200,000. From this the richness of the newly-discovered
gold fields of the Klondike is evident.

" Of all the gold-producing countries, of course, the Klondike
is at present one of most absorbing interest. It strikes the
imagination to-day as California did the minds of the fprty-
niners. It will add in 1897 possibly ;^6,ooo,ooo to the gold
treasure of the world.

** Now as to the influence of such addition to the world's
gold, the influence it will exert depends mainly on how many
years the Klondike District shall continue a producer and how
large its annual increment to the world's existing stock of gold
shall be. There is every reason to believe that Alaska and the
adjacent British territory are possibly as rich in gold as was
California and* Australia when first discovered. I have estimated
that the Klondike district will in 1 897 produce |l6,ooo,ooo worth
of gold. It will add to the product from year to year probably
for a minimum of one or two decades."

Mr. Preston calls attention to the fact that the United States

360 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

•leads the world in gold production. He estimates the gold pro-
duction of the world for 1896 to have been ;^205, 000,000, of
which the United States contributed over ;^ 5 3,000,000. For
1897 it is believed the world's gold product will reach at least
;^ 240,000,000, an increase of ;^3 5,000,000 over 1896. He says :
" As an indication of the increase in the world's gold product
for 1897 the following table, showing the product of the United
States, Australia, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, British India and
Canada for 1896, and the probable output of these countries for
1897, is given :

1896. 1897.

United States |553,000,000 $30,000,000

Australia 46,250,000 52,550,000

South Africa 44,000,000 56,000,000

Russia 22,000,000 25,000,000

Mexico 7,000,000 9,000,000

British India 5,800,000 7,000,000

Canada . 2,800,000 10,000,000

Total 1180,850,000 J5219,550,000

'* That the world's great product will continue to increase for
a number of years to come," says Mr. Preston, '* is self-evident,
as new mines will be opened up in all parts of the world, and
with the improved appliances and methods for extracting the gold
contained in the ores it is believed that by the close of the present
century the world's gold product will exceed ;^300,ooo,ooo.

From the Mining Record.

The Alaska Mining Record, in a summary of the business of 1 896,
gives some interesting figures, as follows, about the gold output :

" The output of the mines of Alaska is difficult of estimation.
The vastness of the mining territory, the extremely migratory
characteristic of the population and the entire absence of reports
and statistics from a great part of the smaller camps render it

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 361

difficult to arrive at a statement approximating correctness except
by careful study and watchful atterftion to every detail. The
following estimate is the result of just such work, and is believed
to be as nearly correct as is possible, and still represent fully,
yet conservatively, the production of gold in Alaska during 1896 :

Total output of quartz mines . |2,355,000

lyituya Bay placer mines 15.000

Cook Inlet placer mines 175,000

Birch Creek district, Yukon mines 1,300,000

Other Yukon districts 800,000

From several small creeks in various parts of the ter-
ritory, worked by arrastas 25,000

Total output ^4,670,000

"This is an increase over 1895 of ;^i,670,cx)0. At the same
time the number of new discoveries which promise well has been
great. These will be more or less productive during the next
year, and a corresponding increase is assured. Two new mills of
ten stamps each have been erected during the past year, and
sixty-five stamps have been added to mills already operating,
bringing the number of stamps now dropping in Alaska to 549,
of which all but ninety-four are in continuous operation, these
latter being closed down by climatic severities during the winter .
season. As development is carried forward, however, steps are
taken to overcome this, and it is but a question of a short time
when all our mines will run regardless of climate or season. It
is quite likely that during the coming summer no less than 250
stamps will be added to the present number."

Value of Yukon Gold.

Assistant Weigher W. A. Underbill, of the Selby Smelting
Company, of San Francisco, says the gold from the Yukon is
not as valuable as that produced in California. He states his
point in these words :

332 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

" It is a fact that the Yukon gold is not as valuable as that
produced in this State. The nuggets from the Yukon are worth
$ 1 7 and $ 1 8 per ounce, and the finer gold dust is worth from
$i6 to $iy per ounce. The California gold value is about $i
an ounce more. Its nuggets run from ;^i8 to $ig, and gold
dust never less than $iy per ounce."

There would seem to be no doubt that gold exists in paying
quantities in many other portions of Alaska than in the quartzite
veins of Douglas Island or the • placers around Circle City.
'' Color," in fact, is a characteristic of the whole Yukon basin
and of a great number of valleys and gulches in other parts of
the Territory.

At Cook's Inlet.

George Hall, a Cook's Inlet miner, has this to say about that
region :

" I want to deny the stories told by ' tenderfeet ' sheep herders
and grape pickers, who say that there is no gold in Cook's Inlet.
I'll wager that from ;^400,ooo to ^500,000 will be taken out of
the Sunrise City district this summer. On Canon Creek, Mills
Creek, Gulch Creek and Bear Creek the various mines are
working from five to twenty men, each at $4. a day, and they
are taking out at least $20 2i day to the man. Of course, this is
not doing as well as the Kloadike, but it is a mighty sight better
than nothing.

"The Pelly Mining Company took out ;^45,ooo last year, and
is working ten men this year, who are averaging $20 2i day to
the man. Wages on the Pelly mine are $4. a day and board.

*' An old practical miner who went to Link Creek, which had
been prospected time and again by ' tenderfeet ' and pronounced
valueless, took, out ;^ 10,000 last fall, and is now working twenty
men. There are three or four other claims on Link Creek pay-
ing equally as well. Claims on Gulch Creek, which was dis-

RESOURCES AND V/EALTH. 363

covered by a man named Shuffler, were averaging ;^20 a day to
the man on July 4th.

" We have a prosperous community at Sunrise — about 200
population, two general merchandise stores, two saloons and a
hotel. It is no country for men who expect to pick up gold by
the handful, but is good for practical, hard-working miners.*"

Told by a Kadiaker.

Dr. C. F. Dickenson, a resident of Kadiak, recently wrote :

" In my opinion there a^e just as good placer diggings to be
found at Cook's Inlet as in the Klondike region. There is not
a foot of ground in all that country that does not contain gold
in more or less appreciable quantities. There is room there for
thousands of men, and there is certainly no better place m the
world for a poor man."

George F. Becker, in an unpublished report made to the geo-
logical survey of his investigation in 1895 of the coastal gold
districts, says that most of the islands of the Alexander Archi-
pelago contain gold deposits, yet unworked, that would probably
repay very handsomely well-directed efforts of placer mining.
These deposits are in the neighborhood of Sitka, and generally
on Baronoff and Admiralty Islands, and the beaches of the ad-
jacent mainland. Another fairly promising region is in a group
of deposits on the Kenai Peninsula, on the southeast shore of
Cook's Inlet, and at Yakutal Bay and the beaches of Kadiak Island.

Gold and silver have been discovered in the extreme northern
portion of the Territory, but no systematic prospect has ever
been conducted, and the value of the deposits cannot be estimated.

In the region of Lake Clark, a newly discovered body of
water in the Southwestern mainland, the census agent reported
"pay" gold in the creek beds, but said the dust was as fine as
flour, and would require special apparatus for working.

364 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

Professor G. F. Wright, of the Chair of Geology at Oberlin
College, wrote of the general prospect to the New York Journal^
as follows :

" As to the ultimate yield of the mines or the prospect pf find-
ing more, we have nothing but conjecture to go upon. The
geologist who have visited the region were not the ones who
discovered the gold. What the prospectors have found points to
more. The unexplored region is immense. The mountains to
the south are young, having been elevated very much since the
climax of the glacial period. With these discoveries and the
success in introducing reindeer, Alaska bids fair to support a
population eventually of several million. The United States
must hold on to her treaty rights with Great Britain for the pro-
ttc^'-^- . four interests there."

Experts in the Field.

Samuel C. Dunham, expert of the Federal Bureau of Labor,
left for Alaska early in August, under Government direction, to
investigate the gold belt and report this coming winter. His
inquiry will cover the extent of the deposits, opportunities for
business, for investment of capital, labor, wages, cost of living,
climate, best means of reaching the gold fields and kindred
subjects.

The Government at Washington will send a mining expert
into the Klondike country next spring to make an estimate as to
the probable amount of gold in this region.

In reaching this conclusion the Treasury Department is follow-
ing the precedent established in the case of the gold discoveries
in the Rand, South Africa. When those discoveries were reported
the Rothschilds sent Hamilton Smith, of New York, to estimate
the value of the fields, and he reported ;^ 3, 000,000,000 as his
estimate.

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 365

Mining experts doubted the correctness of Mr. Smith's con-
clusions on account of the smallness of the space occupied by
the mines, and the German Government sent Bergath Schmeiser,
a noted mining engineer, to make a report. The government of
the United States followed Germany's example by sending George

F. Becker.

John W. Mackey Quoted.

John W* Mackey, the last of the Bonanza Kings — now presi-
dent of the Commercial Cable Company and of the Postal Tele-
graph System, and one of the world's great capitalists — knows
more, probably, about the vicissitudes of gold hunting and placer
mining than any man in America. He spoke of the reports of
the marvelous richness of the Alaskan and Klondike gold fields,
as follows :

"I have no reason to doubt them. I have had great confi-
dence in the mining possibilities in British Columbia and Alaska
— have always believed that those frozen, almost inacc&L^ibiw;
regions contain heavy deposits of precious metals. Some enor-
mous * finds ' of gold have undoubtedly been made there, and
yet we know little or nothing of the possibilities of the country.
Think of Williams' Creek, for instance, in the Caribou region in
British Columbia. As long ago as i860 something like fifty
millions of gold were taken out. It was placer mining there,
just the same as the Klondike.

" The gold is right on the surface. It is a mountainous
country, overrun with lava at some remote age, and centuries
ago, probably, the great forces of nature were at work and
melted the gold in a natural crucible.

" The particles of gold are now washed out by the waters, and
are generally found along the course of mountain streams. You
will always find the best placer gold near the banks of streams
and barren water courses. Scientific mining preserves a much

366 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

larger portion of gold dust than formerly, and I presume it de-
stroys a great deal of the individuality in a working miner. Thus
far the Klondike region has seen only old-fashioned, primitive
mining, the men groveling in the dirt with their hands and wash-
ing out the gold dust in a simple pan, picking nuggets with ther
fingers.

Modern Mining Methods.

*' In time modern mining methods will be carried up to the
Yukon country. The recent discoveries prove that it is im-
mensely rich. All parts of the country will be ^opened. Capital
will always go where there is a chance for legitimate investment,
and transportation facilities will increase as rapidly as the travelers.

" Whether interest in the Alaskan mines will increase depends
on future reports. I see in it something like the excitement of
the early '50s over the gold discoveries of the Pacific coast
region. The reports of rich individual finds are likely to con-
tinue, and the arrival of every ship loaded with fortunate gold
hunters will stimulate the imagination, hopes and desires of the
would-be gold hunters. We hear nothing of the failures, you
know. One man who is lucky is more talked about than a
thousand who fail.

" My experience is, I think, that about one man in ten used to
get on in the mining days in California. I do not mean that one
man in ten became a millionaire. I mean made a living and a
little more. The thriftless and careless ones go to the wall, while
the hard workers, who have a definite purpose in view and who
cling tenaciously to it, succeed in mining as in other occupations.

" But, as I said, in placer mining there is a good deal of luck
in locating the claim. One man will take out a great deal and
another man nothing. As to the limits of British Columbia
mining I cannot say, but I think there are immense gold deposits
yet to be found."

RESOURCES AND WEALTH, 367

Henry Ellsworth Haydon, former Secretary of Alaska, speaks
of the gold production as follows :

" From many places in the Pacific coast States miners have
been drifting Alaskaward for years, locating pay quartz and
placer claims in southeastern Alaska and along the Yukon
River and its tributaries, and feeling assured all the time, from
every indication, that the wind-blown snow plumes on the
mountain tops waved above crowns of gold.

A Happy Surprise.

" Long prior to 1887 Juneau and a comrade went prospecting
in Alaska. They were hunting quartz. Paddling along the
coast in a canoe, they saw far up a mountain side, which skirted
a lonely bay, the glimmer of white outcroppings from the dull
gray of the surrounding rocks. They beached their canoe, and
after a hard climb reached the spot. The rock was worthless,
but the summit was not far off, and desiring to see what was on
the other side, they pushed onward until they stood where they
could look dowh into a ravine, through which a mountain stream
rushed tumultuously toward the sea. They noted that the bed
of the stream was strewn with big white boulders, and curiosity
and hope led them to descend to it and investigate. Joe told
me he was breathless when he got there, and they both sat
down on the banks and wondered if it were true.

" Before them, where the crystal water babbled, they saw
white rocks veined with gold and inlaid with nuggets, many as
large as a thumb nail. They stayed there while their provisions
lasted, a few days only, gathering together ;^ 14,000 in virgin
gold.

" In the rear of Juneau, on the mainland, is Silver Bow Basin,
where some rich placer mines are being worked. Placer mining
is carried on in at least eight districts, viz. : Silver Bow Basin,

368 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

near Juneau ; Sum Dum and Shuck, some distance south ;
Latuya Bay, on the coast north of Cross Sound ; Yakutat,
Kenai Peninsula ; the Fish River district, on Norton Sound,
at Cook's Inlet, and the Yukon district, including the rivers flowing
into the Yukon.

Placers in Yukon Basin.

" In the absence of statistics it is difficult to obtain reliable
information, but work in these placers continues, which is evidence
of success. For ten years at least men have worked placers in
the Yukon district. Leaving Juneau early in the spring, they have
gone out over the Chilkat Pass and down the little chain of lakes
on the other side, making long portages, it is true, and enduring
some hardships, to the Yukon River. They have returned to
Juneau in the fall, year after year, bringing with them from ;^2000
to ;^3500 each in gold dust, the product of the summer's work.
But they are improvident, these men who win gold from the beds
of rivers, and when the spring comes they are stranded finan-
cially, many of them without a grub-stake, but they ' win out '
some way and go back again to return — unless they have crossed
the divide forever — and repeat the same old story of excess and
extravagance.

** They never grow money wise, these grizzled veterans of the
rocker, the gold pan, the pick and the shovel, but after all they
are of God's people, and I like them.

" Quartz lodes are worked in ten or more districts, some of
which are large and contain many district claims. The ten dis-
tricts referred to are as follows : Sheep Creek region, which
yields ore containing silver, gold, and other metals ; Salmon
Creek, near Juneau, silver and gold ; Silver Bow Basin, mainly
gold ; Douglas Island, mainly gold ; Fuhter Bay, on Admiralty
Island, mainly gold ; the Silver Bay Mining District, near Sitka,
gold and silver ; Besner Bay, in Lynn Canal, mainly gold ; Fish

RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 369

River Mining District, on Norton Sound ; Unga District and
Lemon Creek."

The undeveloped and almost unthought of mineral resources
of Alaska, other than gold, deserve a passing glance. Another
year or two will, perhaps, give some statistics of deposit and
production which are lacking now.

Copper promises to be a valuable and important resource of
the territory. It is found pure or "virgin " in many places and
has given its name to the little known Copper River. A valuable
deposit of bronze copper has been worked for years.

An expedition has been organized to go out froni Tacoma and
Port Townsend to explore a rich copper field, in which there is
believed to be also much gold, which is known to exist along
the Copper River. For many years past gold, copper and furs
have been brought out of that region by Copper River Indians,
and exchanged with traders for firearms and food. The Copper
Indians are a ferocious tribe, and during the last few years have
become well equipped with guns and ammunition. Knowing
the value of their rich stakes, and that the ingress of white men
would mean their retirement, the Indians have steadfastly refused
to permit a single white man to explore their country. Every
man making the attempt has been told to keep out, and when
he persisted has been killed.

After the Copper.

The Copper River tribe numbers nearly looo, and as they
have been well able to carry out their threats, no attempt to
molest them has been made in recent years. Now, however, it
is intended to teach these natives that white men must eventually
be allowed to prospect and take out the mineral riches of their
domain.

One hundred men, heavily armed, will compose the expedition.
24

370 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

They will be led into the Copper River section by Judge Joseph
Kuhn, who has been collecting data regarding Copper River
for years, and was the originator of the project. The Indians
will not be molested unless they attack the exploring party.
Traditions of the last sixty years have ascribed great mineral
wealth to the Copper River country. At Sitka, it is said, that
in 1 83 1 a Russian trader invaded that section with eight men.
They were killed when within two days' march to the seacoast.
Coal of fair quality exists in good quantity in several parts of
Alaska. At Coal Harbor an ample supply of a rather poor
quality of lignite has been worked in a spasmodic way for some
time. A semi-bituminous lignite is mined along the northern
coast by whalers for use on the spot. It makes steam quickly,
but the quantities of ash and cinder are something of an
objection. A glossy, semi-bituminous lignite, which steams well
and is mined without much labor, is found near Kilisnoo, and
good coal exists on Silkinak Island. A new coal mine has just
been opened six miles from Fort Cudahy, and will be promptly
developed to supply fuel to the river steamers. Coal is also
mined in the Pelly River country.

Lead and Other Riches.

Lead is found on Whale Bay and Kadiak Island, and there are
indications of paying deposits in the interior. A mine on the
Fish River has been opened for working by a San Francisco
company.

Graphite abounds about Port Clarence. Marble exists in
inexhaustible quantities.

Petroleum has been found in what are believed to be paying
quantities on a lake near Kadmai Bay. Samples sent down for
analysis were of marvelous richness, and a company has been
formed to handle the product for the Alaskan mining camps.

* RESOURCES AND WEALTH. 371

A San Francisco expert, just returned from Alaska, sums up
the resources as follows :

" There are other discoveries awaiting the pioneers of Alaska
than that of gold. Iron and coal abound in these rugged
mountains, and the necessity of development will be immediatly
apparent. The source of a new commerce will be established.
An impetus will be given to the manufacturing interests of the
Pacific Coast, and the community wealth will receive a more
substantial benefit than could possibly accrue from individual
accumulation of riches."

Canadian "Blue Book."

The Canadian Government has issued a *' Blue Book " on the
Klondike, extracts from which deserve a place here. It says :

" It is beyond doubt that a considerable* number of pans of
the dirt on different claims have turned out over ;^200 worth of
gold, while those which run from ten dollars to fifty dollars have
been very numerous. In the line of these finds further south is
the Cassiar gold fields, in British Columbia, so the presumption
is that we have in our territory along the easterly watershed of
the Yukon a gold-bearing belt of indefinite width and upward of
300 miles long, exclusive of the British Columbia part of it."

** Gold is not the only mineral wealth of the Yukon, it appears.
Mr. Ogilvie states that copper has been found on the Ton-dac
Creek, above Fort Reliance, and several small veins have been
found in the vicinity. With better facilities it may become, he
says, a valuable feature of the country. A small seam of asbes-
tos was also found a short distance from Fort Cudahy, and as
there is quite an area of serpentine in that neighborhood, asbestos
of commercial value may yet be found.

" Still another valuable feature is the coal fields which the dis-
trict possesses. On Coal Creek, about seven miles up, overlying

372 RESOURCES AND WEALTH.

a coarse sandstone and under drift clay and gravel, a seam of
twelve feet six inches has been discovered. It is certain that
coal extends along the valley of the Yukon from Coal Creek, ten
or twelve mile down, and from Coal Creek up to Twelve-Mile
Creek, which flows into the Yukon about thirty miles above
Fort Cudahy. Coal is also found in the upper part of Klondike
and on other creeks."

Gold-bearing quartz, the report states, ^has been found in Cone
Hill, which stands midway in the Valley of the Forty-Mile River,
a couple of miles above the junction with the Yukon. The
quantity in sight surpasses that of the famous Treadwell mine on
the coast, and the quality is better. Were it on the coast the
Treadwell would be diminutive beside it.

Not far from Cone Hill a ledge had been found last spring on
the Chindindu River (known in the district as the Twelve-Mile
Creek), by an American expert prospecting for the North Ameri-
can Transportation and Trading Company, which the expert said
he had never read of or seen anything like in the world. He
had spent years of his life in the best mining districts of the
United States, and he assured Mr. Ogilvie that this section of
country promised better than any he ever saw before, and he
was going to spend the rest of his life there.

By Governor Mcintosh.

Governor H. C. Mcintosh, of the Northwest Territory, which
includes the Canadian Yukon, says the Klondike diggings will
reach ^10,000,000 in the season of 1897. In a recent interview
about the new camp, Governor Mcintosh said :

** We are only on the threshold of the greatest discovery ever
madcc Gold has been piling up in all these innumerable streams
for hundreds of years. Much of the territory the foot of man
has never trod. It would hardly be possible for one to exag-

• RESOURCES AND^ WEALTH. 373

geratc the richness, not only of the Klondike, but of other dis-
tricts in the Canadian Yukon. At the same time, the folly of
thousands rushing in there without proper means of subsistence
and utter ignorance of geographical conditions of the country
should be kept ever in mind.

" There are fully 9000 miles of these golden waterways in the
region of the Yukon. Rivers, creeks and streams of every size
and description are all rich in gold. I derived this knowledge
from many old Hudson Bay explorers, who assured me that
they considered the gold next to inexhaustible.

" In 1 894 I made a report to Sir John Thompson, then premier
of Canada, who died the same year, at Windsor Castle, strongly
urging that a body of Canadian police be established on the river
to maintain order. This was done in 1895, and the British out-
post of Fort Cudahy was founded.

Prospect in Other Streams.

" I have known gold to exist there since 1889, consequent upon
a report made to me by W. Ogilvie, the government explorer.
Many streams that will no doubt prove to be as rich as the Klon-
dike have not been explored or prospected. Among these I
might mention Dominion Creek, Hootalinqua River, Stewart
River, Liard River and a score of other streams comparatively
unknown.

*' It is my judgment and opinion, that the 1897 yield of the
Canadian Yukon wjU exceed ;^ 10,000,000 in gold. Of course,
as in the case of the Cariboo and Cassiar districts years ago, it
will be impossible accurately to estimate the full amount taken
out.

"There is now far in excess of ;^ 1,000,000 remaining already
mined on the Klondike. It is in valises, tin cans and lying loose
in saloons, but just as sacredly guarded there and apparently as

374 RESOURCES AND W2ALTH.

safe as if it were in a vault. Already this spring we have official
knowledge of over ;^ 2, 000,000 in gold having been taken from
the Klondike camps. It was shipped out on the steamships
Excelsior and Portland.

" Incidentally I may say we have data of an official nature
which lead us to believe that the gold output of the Rossland
and Kootenai districts for 1897 will be in excess of ;^7,ooo,ooo.
I should have said, and I have no hesitancy in asserting, that
within the course of five years the gold yield of the three dis-
tricts named will exceed that of either Colorado, Cahfornia or
South Africa."

A more complete statement of the seal and salmon industries
will be found in another chapter.

Adds to our Knowledge.

In these days when every scrap of information regarding
Alaska and the gold discoveries is eagerly sought, and the greed
of gold is leading many to almost certain destruction, it is well
to consider what is a redeeming feature of the golJ craze. The
finds in the upper Yukon country can at best benefit only a
limited number of people in a direct manner, while the educa-
tional value of the gold discoveries to all civilized nations really is
unlimited. Only a few weeks ago Alaska in general and the
Klondike region in particular were comparatively unknown. The
maps contained only indefinite outlines of the more important
streams and mountain ranges, and as to places of human abode,
with the exceptions of a few in Southern Alaska, none was re-
corded. Look at the change now. Chilkoot Pass, Dyea, Lake
Linderman, Bonanza Creek, Circle City, Fort Cudahy, St. Mich-
ael's, Dutch Harbor, etc., are on everybody's lips, and many who
could not locate St. Louis accurately on the maps talk of the
Klondike River as familiarly as of the Mississippi.

CHAPTER XIII.
Gold Mining in Alaska.

Antiquity of Placer Mining — How Nature has Filled the Gravel with Gold
— Selecting a Locality — Building a House — Out Prospecting — Thawing
the Ground — How to Distinguish Gold from other Minerals — Pyrites,
Mica, Black Sand — Mechanical Assay — Locating the Claim — Local
Customs — Commissioner Herrman's Digest — Getting Out the Gold —
Mining in Winter — Work Along the Yukon — Sluicing for Gold — Dry
Placer Miners — Dredging for Gold — Old Miner's Advice — Gold-bearing
Quartz — How Gold Came to Klondike — Banks and Banking.

-< ^O history has recorded, nor has tradition handed down,
2^y whether the first gold which excited man's admiration
and afterward his cupidity was a nugget of the virgin
metal or only glittering, yellow dust. Probably it was the former
and quite likely the lump was a large one. But since that primi-
tive time the thirst for gold then created has grown more
insatiable till famishing mankind in the search for the precious
metal has literally changed the face of nature over a good
portion of the known world.

Probably the first man to make a " strike " valued the nugget
mainly because it was large and bright, but smaller bits of the
same brilliant substance came ere long to have a recognized
value proportioned to their size, and when at length some
unusually long-headed antedeluvian hit upon the fact that a
pound of gold dust could be made into one lump just as large
and just as brilliant as a nugget of the same weight the day of
"dust" had dawned. And the day of dust was the day when
men began to " wash " the golden sands of the ancient river
beds and lay up for themselves treasures on earth.

Placer mining, in \\^ich the gold found " free " in the gravel
beds is washed clean of earthy dross, is essentially " poor

375

376 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

man's" mining. It needs few tools and little capital, and there
is no hindering patent on the process. It has been folio ./ed
from the earliest times and in much the same manner in all
parts of the world. Nations which had nothing else in common
were alike in their methods and tools for placer mining. The
pans and panning described by Mungo Park were practically
identical with those of the " days of '49," and the prospector of
'97 in the Klondike needs no other types of tools than are in
use by the rude natiye minors of every gold bearing region on
earth.

In the shallow diggings or placers nature has for ages been
performing the work for which the quartz miner must invent all
manner of machinery and employ a vast amount of capital and
skilled labor — the disintegration of the gold-bearing rock and
the concentration of the metal. Consequently, the unskilled
laborer, whose capital is his own strength and a few of the sim-
plest tools, is able to extract, on a remunerative scale, immense
quantities of gold which, under its original condition, spread
through quartz and other hard rocks, would have needed vast
amounts of capital and much machinery for its elimination, and
in many instances would not have repaid the outlay. It is easy
to see why placers are *' poor men's " mines.

Exhausting the Surfacings.

The exhaustion of the shallow placers of the older gold fields
is fast approaching, that class of mining being abandoned in
those regions in America almost entirely to the patient Chinese.
Yet it should not be forgotten these shallow washings have often
led the miner to the very door of vast storehouses of wealth in the
veins, in the hills and mountains. In California, in New South
Wales and in Victoria deep leads were nearly all discovered by
prospecting the surfacing. From this the Alaskan miner will

MINING IN ALASKA.

877

understand that however rich his placer claim may be, it is, more
than that, the likely guide post to a still vaster treasure, and he
will be able to understand why ** Lucky " Baldwin intends to turn
his great experience and ample resources to the locating of the
" mother lode."

But the majority of the men now in or going into the Alas-

HYDRAULIC MINING.

kan diggings or the Klondike have neither taste, time nor means
to hunt for the " mother lode." They have taken it for granted
that nature has extracted the yellow metal from the rocks for
them, and they want the benefit of her bounty in a hurry, and
all they can get of it. •

The first thing for the prospector to do is to pick out a likely

378 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

locality to prospect. Judgment and technical knowledge and
experience all count for something in making this choice, but
they are not infallible. The novice may have better luck than
the old-timer, and it is worthy of note in this connection that old
miners are firm believers in " luck." The experiences of the last
two years in the Yukon Basin would seem to go far to confirm
their faith.

A man just back from Dawson City with ;^ 100,000 in dust to
his credit told this story :

" Men who had scarcely one dollar six months ago are now
bonanza kings carrying ;^ 50,000 in gold dust and owning claims
that they would not sell for that amount. It is simply chance
or luck and nothing else. Dozens of worthy fellows have
worked hard and not " struck " anything yet, while others have
literally stumbled into their good fortunes. Last November a
man went out on the creek with others to stake a claim. He
was so drunk that he scarcely knew — much less cared — where
he was or what he was doing, but he staked. Now, he can com-
mand his hundreds of thousands."

Building a House.

Having selected a locality the next thing is to build a house,
or hut, for the daily life of a prospector or miner on the Yukon
is rough and hard, and a warm home is absolutely essential to
the health and cheerful spirit without which he cannot hope to
succeed. If there are four men in the party, the building need
not take more than a day. Architecture is all " out of the
same log " in that region, and any house will do for a model.
Four log walls well chinked with the abundant moss, a dirt roof
and a chimney are the main essentials.

Then, out for '' color." •

Prospecting in this land of long winters is generally conducted

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 379

in the season when everything is locked in frost. During the
short summer the streams are full of rushing water, and pros-
pecting except along the banks is difficult and often impossible.
The absence of water might be deemed a drawback in winter
prospecting, but the novice will quickly learn that it takes but a
little water to wash out a sample pan, and that amount can
easily be obtained by melting snow or ice. Moreover, to an
expert placer miner, water is not a necessity. He pans dry.
The Alaskan "dust" is very coarse averaging nearly a wheat
grain in size. This makes easy panning.

Mrs. Frederick Schwatka gives a none too alluring picture of
this stage of the Yukon miner's experience in these words :

" There isn't very much said about the kind of ground that
the gold hunters have to prospect over in the river regions. It
is frightfully hard to travel. In the winter it is all ice and in
the summer it is buried deep with drift wood and debris from the
spring floods till it is almost impassable. All the rivers are
flooded every spring and fall and the waters carry off huge pieces
Df frozen banks."

But the Alaska argonaut knew all this before he started, so he
is not disheartened.

Thawing the Ground.

In hunting for gold prospectors dig a hole down to bed rock,
which is generally found at a depth of from fifteen to eighteen
feet. In the Yukon Basin they have to melt the ground, a few
inches at a time, as they dig. The first twelve feet or so of earth
is non-auriferous. Under it lies a stratum of coarse gravel three
feet or more in thickness, which is rich in the precious metal,
most of it being in the shape of small nuggets or grains. It is
called " dust," but it is much coarser than the dust found in other
parts of the world. Some of it is so large that a big percentage
c:.n be picked out by hand as the gravel is brought up out of the

380 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

hole, but the general practice is to sluice or pan wash it.

The feeble suns of the short summer do not thaw out the
frozen ground to its full depth in the Yukon Basin, and it has to
be softened by building huge fires, which are kept going night
and day until the earth is in such shape that the miners can force
their way through it with picks. This done, a number of holes
are dug on each claim, but even then when the gold gravel is
taken out it is in frozen chunks resembling small masses of con-
crete. By making these holes in the summer the miners are
enabled to work underground a portion of the winter and thus
prepare for an early wash-up when the spring thaw comes in
June. To take advantage of this the gravel which has been
dug out during the winter has to be again softened by fire before
it can be put through the sluices or pans and the gold separated.

The gravel is packed in a kind of clay, which makes a con-
glomerate like concrete, through which, when frozen, the strongest
man cannot force a pick. When this gravel is thawed it is broken
up with picks and thrown in a big heap with shovels. It varies
in depth from fourteen to twenty feet, and it is richest in gold
close to the bed rock. This is because gold is heavier than
gravel and settles toward the bottom of any bar or bank in which
it has accumulated. It is almost unnecessary to say that in sinking
the holes or shafts every foot of the ground must be prospected
for "pay dirt." This part of the prospecting consists simply in
washing out pans of the gravel or sand ; if gold is found the
claim should be " located " or staked out at once.

How to Tell Minerals.

It is necessary to remind the novice that all is not gold that
glitters. Since the days when the earliest Virginian explorers
sailed back to England with a ship-load of yellow sand under
the delusion that they had a cargo of gold, "tenderfeet" have

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 381

been easily misled, when seeking gold, by iron and copper pyrites
and by mica. How to distinguish these natural counterfeits is
worth knowing.

Iron pyrites, or bisulphide of iron, is a brass-yellow mineral
occurring in small cubical crystals. It is easily discriminated.
When strongly heated it is attracted by the magnet, while gold
never becomes magnetic. Gold is malleable and iron pyrites
brittle. Gold may be cut in flakes, pyrites not. Heated in
nitric acid pyrites dissolves with effervescence and abundant red
fumes, gold is unaffected. The specific gravity of gold is about
four times that of iron pyrites. Mercury absorbs gold dust, but
not iron pyrites.

Copper pyrites, or yellow copper ore, the principal source of
copper, is a deep brass-yellow colored mineral with a strong me-
tallic lustre. Its primitive crystalline form is the regular tetra-
hedron. It crumbles freely under the hammer, and yields to
thc^ knife ; but instead of giving a solid chip as gold would, pro-
duces only dust. Heated on charcoal before the blowpipe it
loses its yellow color and fuses into a dull black globule. Mixed
with carbonate of soda and a little borax and subjected to the
blowpipe it will yield a button of metallic copper.

Mica is a yellow, glistening mineral of foliated structure, and
semi-metallic luster. It is much lighter than gold and becomes
flakey when heated to redness and loses its lustre on cooling,
whereas gold would remain unchanged.

Black Sand.

In assaying the gold sand of rivers, streams, and beaches of the
Pacific coast, some difficulty is occasionally met with from the
specular and titanic iron known technically as black sand. Plati-
num and iridium are often found in the same sands. Following
are convenient methods of testing these sands :

382 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

For Atwood's test, take lOO to looo grains and attack with

aqua regia in a flask ; cool for thirty minutes, dilute with water

and filter. If gold is present it will be in solution in the filtrate.

Evaporate the filtrates to dryness, add a little hydrochloric acid

and redissolve the dry salt in warm water ; add to the solution

so formed, protosulphate of iron, which will throw down the gold

as a fine, dark precipitate. Dry and burn over the lamp. Mix

residuum with three times its weight of lead, fuse, scarify and

cupel.

Mechanical Assay.

The mechanical test or assay of auriferous sands is of the
utmost practical value, and may be thus described as scientifically
performed, it being understood this is only a working test, and
does not give all the gold as shown by a careful fire assay : Put
2000 grammes in a pan or, better, in a batea, and wash care-
fully until the gold begins to appear. Use clean water, and
when the pan and the small residue are clean, pour off most of
the water and drop in a globule of pure mercury and a piece of
cyanide of potassium. As the cyanide begins to dissolve, impart
a rotary motion to the dish — best done by holding the arms stiff
and moving the body. As the mercury rolls over and ploughs
through the sand, under the influence of the cyanide, it will col-
lect all the particles of free gold. When all has been collected,
transfer the mercury carefully to a small porcelain cup or test
tube, and boil with strong, pure nitric acid. When the mercury
is all dissolved, the acid is poured off, more nitric acid is applied
cold and rejected, and the gold is then washed with distilled
water and dried. The second washing with nitric acid is to re-
move any nitrate of mercury.

The resulting gold is not pure, but has the composition of the
natural alloy. To purify it, melt it with silver, hammer it out
chin, boil twice with nitric acid, dry and heat it to redness. To

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 383

calculate the assay, take each of the original 2000 grammes to
mean a pound and decimals of a gramme to mean decimals of a
pound. Multiply the value of gold by the fraction of a gramme
produced, and the result will be the value of the gold in a ton.
In this same connection it may be noted that it is important,
in estimating the value of purchased gold dust to examine care-
fully to see if there is any counterfeit or ** bogus " dust present.
If all from the same locality the dust will have a uniform color.
A fair sample of the whole lot of dust under inspection should
be placed in an evaporating dish and nitric acid poured upon it.
It any reaction takes place there is foreign matter present;

Locating the Claims.

If the prospects indicate a claim that will pay for working,
the miner's first step is to locate the claim.

The manner of locating placer mining claims differs from that
of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or
lode claim, the United States statutes provide that no claim shall
extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the
vein at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining
regulations to less than 25 feet on each side of the middle vein
at the surface. In locating claims called '* placers," however,
the law provides that no location of such claim upon surveyed
lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim-
ant. The supreme court, however, has held that one individual
can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon
his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is
unnecessary.

A patent for any land claimed and located may be obtained
in the following manner : "Any person, association or corpora-
tion authorized to locate a claim, having claimed and located a
piece of land, and who has or have complied with the terms of

384

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

the law, may file in the proper land office an application for a
patent under oath, showing such compliance, together with a
plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by
or under the direction of the United States surveyor general,
showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which

GUARDING HIS CLAIM,

shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and
shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such
application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land
embraced in such plat, previous to the application for a patent
on such plat ; and shall file an affidavit of at least two persons

COLD MINING IN ALASKA. 385

that such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of
the notice in such land office ; and shall thereupon be entitled
to a patent to the land in the manner following : The registrar
of said land office upon the filing of such application, plat, field
notes, notices and application, shall publish a notice that such
application has been made for a period of sixty days, in a news-
paper to be by him designated, as published nearest to such
claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office for the same
period. The claimant at the time of filing such application, or
at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publication, shall file
with the registrar a certificate of the United States surveyor
general that ;^ 500 worth of labor has been expended or improve-
ments made upon the claim by himself or grantors ; that the
plat is correct, with such further description by reference to natural
objects or permanent monuments as shall identify the claim and
furnish an accurate description to be incorporated in the patent.
At the expiration of the sixty days of publication, the claimant
shall file his affidavit, showing that the plat and notice have been
posted in a conspicuous place on the claim during such period of
publication."

If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of
the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant
is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of
$S per acre in the case of a lode claim, and ;^2*.5o per acre for
a placer.

As to Local Customs.

The location of a placer claim and keeping possession thereof
until a patent shall be issued are also subject to local customs,
about which the wise miner will thoroughly inform himself In
Alaska the holder of a claim is required to do at least ;^ioo
worth of work on his claim every year for five years to get an
absolute title to it. He has the privilege of doing the entire ^500
25

386 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

worth of work at once if he chooses to do so, and on proof of ft
may get his patent. The man who locates a claim is allowed a
full year before he puts up his location notice for working the first
assessment, during which time his right is absolute and is also
negotiable. A purchaser fulfilling the obligation entered into
by the discoverer enjoys the same rights.

In Alaska and in the Klondike the first miners in a district
hold a meeting and fix the size of the claims, and also agree as
to how much work shall constitute an assessment. The miners
also elect a register.

The size of a claim, as fixed by agreement among the miners
of any particular locality, is a section of the creek of a certain
length — sometimes 200 feet — and it extends from rim to rim in
width. The reason of this variableness in the size of claims on
the different creeks is that on some a greater length is required
to make them worth a man's while to work them. The paying
deposits may be scattered so a man could make wages only by
working here and there over a large territory. Of course, the
conditions surrounding the first discovery made on a creek are
the basis for fixing the size of a claim on that stream. The dis-
coverer of a new field is allowed two claims, while others arc
permitted to take but one at a time. However, when a locator
has worked out his assessment of a few days' work he is at
liberty to take another.

Commissioner Herrmanns Digest.

Commissioner Herrman, of the United States Land Office at
Washington, briefly digested the law bearing on placer claims as
follows :

'* When you patent a claim it is necessary for you to be a citi-
zen of the United States or to have declared your intention of
becoming one.

GOLD MINING IN AT.ASKA. 387

** This law, however, is of little consequence when placer dig-
ging is concerned. Under our laws anybody is privileged to
dig out gold wherever it is found. When it comes to taking out
a patent* for the land the miner will have exhausted the super-
ficial supply of gold and moved on.

" There is practically no need of taking out patents for placer
mining. The miner comes along, sees a likely piece of ground,
digs up a few panfuls, extracts the gold, if there is any, stays
there till he has obtained as much as he can from that piece of
ground with his primitive implements, and then moves on to
another likely piece.

" Pretty soon along comes the quartz miner with his machin-
ery and takes out a claim for a piece of ground which the placer
miner may have worked superficially."

As to locations on the Klondike, see the chapter an " Mining
Laws."

Getting Out the Gold.

Now comes the hardest part of the miners' work — getting out
the golden treasure.

In summer in Alaska about the onfy tools required in the
placers are a pick, shovel and gold pan, about the size of a small
dish pan and made of copper or white enameled iron, preferably
the latter because the relief enables the miner to see the gold
more distinctly especially when it is in fine specks. The miner
squats beside the water, dips water into the pan, oscillates it with
a motion that can only be acquired by experience, and gradually
sloughs out the water, dirt, gravel, etc., retaining the gold in the
pan. Gold being the heaviest substance it is, of course, the
easiest to retain in the pan. If it be in the shape of nuggets,
the miner picks them out of the pan with his fingers ; if the
gold be in small particles, fine gold or ** flour " gold, he dries
the pan in the sun and carefully brushes the deposit into a

388 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

piece of buckskin or other material used for carrying the pre-
cious metal. Some miners prefer the cradle to the pan for get-
ting gold.

It is nearly always desirable, but not always possible, to have
a sluice. This sometimes is very primitive. It may be only a
gully bottomed with cobblestones, or plank troughing, with
riffles or cleats at intervals across the bottom. In either case,
the gold-bearing dirt or gravel is thrown in while water is run-
ning through the sluice. The current is supposed to carry away
the worthless rocks and dirt, allowing the gold to sink to the
bottom. If the gold is in finely divided particles, the sluice is
made tight and quicksilver is placed above the riffles, which
envelops and holds the gold dust. No two mines are exactly
alike, and the manner of working them has to be varied to suit
the circumstances.

Mining in Winter.

In placers in winter in Alaska and in the Klondike, practically
all the year round, it is necessary to melt the frozen auriferous
gravel by means of huge fires in order to make it possible to
work it with a pick. Formerly miners used to thaw out the
whole area of their claims down to bed rock. Now they sink a
shaft to the bottom of the gravel, and tunnel along underneath
in the gold-bearing layer. As the tunnel is all the way through
the solid frozen earth, no shoring is required, and the only
expense for timber is for fuel.

The way in which the tunneling is done is interesting, as it
has to be carried on in cold weather, when everything is frozen.
The miners build fires over the area which they wish to work,
and keep them lighted for the space of about twenty-four hours.
Then, at the expiration of this period, the gravel will be melted
and softened to a depth of perhaps six inches. This is then
taken off and other fires built, until the gold-bearing layer is

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 389

reached. When the shaft is down so far fires are built at the
bottom, against the sides of the layer, and tunnels made in this
manner. Dry wood is piled against the face of the drift, and
then other pieces are set slantwise over the heap of fuel. As
the fire bums, the gravel falls down from above and gradually
covers the slanting shield of wood. The fire smoulders away
and becomes charcoal burning. It is when it reaches this con-
fined stage during the night that its heat is most effective against
the face of the drift. Next day the miner finds the face of his
drift thawed out for a distance of from ten to eighteen inches,
according to conditions. He shovels out dirt, and if only part
is pay dirt he puts only that on his dump. Thus, at the rate of
a few inches a day, drifting out of precious gravel goes on, and
the dump is slowly added to until spring, when the torrents
come down, and the washing and sluicing and cradling begin.

Work on the Yukon.

The mines of the Yukon are of a class by themselves, and it
is necessary to follow new methods for getting the gold. To
begin with, the ground is frozen. From the roots of the moss,
which often is more than a foot thick, to the greatest depth that
ever has been reached, the ground is as hard as a bone. The gold
is found in a certain drift of gravel, which lies at varying depths,
often as far down as twenty feet. Only that portion of the gravel
just above hard pan — by which is usually meant clay — carries
gold in any quantity, and in favored localities this particular gravel
is extraordinarily rich. In fact, there is more free gold found
within the same space, taking the whole district through, than
ever was found anywhere in placers. Toward the heads of the
creeks, and likewise toward the original source of the mineral,
the gravel is found nearer the surface than at places further down
the streams. It is also coarser gold, but, on the other hand, it

390 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

covers a narrower strip of the valley. Going down the creeks,

the deposit is spread out over a much wider area, and is deeper

in the ground. The gold is in smaller particles, but the quantity

may be as great as anywhere. As in nearly all placer mines,

the low places of what has formerly been the bed of the creek

are the richest, the deposits decreasing in quantity toward the

outer edges.

Another Description.

Land Surveyor Ogilvie gives the following description of a
method of placer mining in vogue across the border :

"The process of placer mining is about as follows: After
clearing all the coarse gravel and stones off a patch of ground,
the miner lifts a little of the firmer gravel or sand in his pan,
which is a broad, shallow dish, made of strong sheet-iron ; he
then puts in water enough to fill the pan and gives it a few rapid
whirls and shakes ; this tends to bring the gold to the bottom on
account of its great specific gravity. The dish is then shaken
and held in such a way that the gravel and sand are gradually
washed out, care being taken to avoid letting out the finer and
heavier parts that have settled to the bottom. Finally all that is
left in the pan is whatever gold may have been in the dish, and
some black sand which almost invariably accompanies it. This
black sand is nothing but pulverized magnetic iron ore.

" Should the gold thus found be fine, the contents of the pan
are thrown into a barrel containing water and a pound or two of
mercury. As soon as the gold comes in contact with the mer-
cury it combines and forms an amalgam. This process is con-
tinued until enough amalgam has been formed to pay for 'roast-
ing' or * firing.' It is then squeezed through a buckskin bag, all
the mercury that comes through the bag being put back into the
barrel to serve again, and what remains in the bag is placed in a
retort, if the miner has one, or, if not, on a shovel, and heated

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 391

until nearly all the mercury i.; vaporized. The gold then re-
mains in a lump with some mercury still held in combination
with it. This is called the * pan ' or ' hand ' method, and is never,
on account of its slowness and laboriousness, continued for any
length of time when it is possible to procure a * rocker,' or to
make and work sluices.

Sluicing for Gold.

" Sluicing is always employed when possible. It requires a
good supply of water, with sufficient head or fall. The process
is as follows : Planks are procured and formed into a box of
suitable width and depth. Slats are fixed across the bottom of
the box at suitable intervals, or shallow holes bored in the
bottom in such order that no particle could run along the bottom
in a straight line and escape running over a hole. Several of
these boxes are then set up with a considerable slope, and are
fitted into one another at the ends, like a stovepipe. A stream
of water is now directed into the upper end of the highest box.
The gravel having been collected, as in the case of the rocker,
it is shoveled into the upper box, and is washed downward by
the strong current of water. The gold is detained by its weight,
and is held by the slats or in the holes mentioned ; if it is fine,
mercury is placed behind the slats or in these holes to catch it.

" In this way about three times as much dirt can be washed
as by the rocker, and consequently three times as much gold
can be secured in a given time.

** A great many of the miners spend their time in the summer
in prospecting, and in the winter resort to what is called ' burn-
ing.' They make fires on the surface, thus thawing the ground
until the bedrock is reached. The pay dirt is brought to
the surface and heaped in a pile until spring, when water can
be obtained. The sluice boxes are then set up and the dirt is

392 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

washed out, thus enabling the miner to work advantageously
and profitably the year round."

Captain J. F. Higgins, of the steamer Excelsior, one of the
Alaska boats, wrote to a friend in San Diego the following story
of good luck in the Yukon placers :

'• There is about fifteen feet of dirt above bedrock, the pay
streak averaging from four to six feet, which is tunneled out
while the ground is frozen. Of course, the ground taken out is
thawed by building fires, and when the thaw comes and water
rushes in they set their sluices and wash the dirt. Two of our
fellows thought a small bird in the hand worth a large one in
the bush and sold their claims for ;^45,ooo, getting ;^45oo down,
the remainder to be paid in monthly installments of ;^ 10,000
each. The purchasers had no more than ;^5000 paid. They
were twenty days thawing and getting out dirt. Then there was
no water to sluice with, but one fellow made a rocker, and in
ten days took out the ;^ 10,000 for the first installment, ^o, tun-
neling and rocking,they took out ;^40,ooo before there was water
to sluice with." ...

Dry Placer Miners.

Machines known as ** dry placer miners " are in use in various
southern diggings and may be expected to make their appear-
ance in Alaska and the Klondike soon, where it is believed they
would be peculiarly well adapted to the conditions imposed on
mining by the climate. A feature of some of these dry washers
is that, unlike sluicing or hydraulicking, they will effect a separ-
ation of the gold from the black sand.

The principle in these dry washers is that of the air blast re-
moving or blowing the fine sand or dust from the finely pulver-
ized material which is fed upon a panning table of perforated
metal covered with cloth and crossed by copper riffles. The
sand and earthy dust are blown away, the gangue rolls down

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 893

the incline over the riffles, and is discharged as tailings, and
the gold settles on the cloth behind the riffles and is removed in
the daily ''clean up." A small size of dry washer is made for
prospectors.

A combination sled and gold "rocker" is being largely sold.
It is about six feet long, eighteen inches wide and the runners
stand up about ten inches. The "bed," when taken off, consti-
tutes a "rocker" of a form approved by miners. It is claimed
that 300 pounds of provisions, besides a miner's outfit of tools
can be carried on it.

Dredging for Gold.

One of the new schemes for getting the gold out of the Yukon
is to dredge the river bed. A company has been formed to
carry out the work, and intends beginning work in the great river
in the spring. The promoter argues that the gold deposits of
the rivers and creeks are the results of the washing down by
high waters and the carrying down of ice floes. Upon this as-
sumption the argument is made that in the deeper channel the
gold has sunk lower, and, as the dredgers will work down to
bed rock, the belief is that the result of pumping from the bottom
will be proportionately richer.

An experiment is being conducted in Frazier River in the use
of centrifugal pumps on barges to pump up the earth along the
bottom of the river and wash out the gold that has been deposi-
ted there for ages. The nozzles of these pumps, which are
screened to prevent big bowlders from being taken in, are forced
to the bottom of the river, and as the sand and water reach the
top of the barge they are carefully screened, so that all the gold
is secured. If the experiment proves a success it will revolu-
tionize placer mining.

A report on the Birch Creek district, issued during the summer
of 1 897, says :

394 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

" Some miners have planned to work this and other good
ground supposed to exist under the deep covering of moss and
gravel in the wide valley of the Mammoth and Crooked Creeks,
oy hydraulicking, the water to be obtained by tapping Miller and
Mastadon Creeks near the head."

A machine has recently been invented, intended to use Alaska
petroleum if it can be had in sufficient quantities, and if not, oil
brought from the States or from Ontario, by means of which it
is expected to thaw the frozen gravel and drift in the placer beds,
and vastly cheapen and expedite the process of gathering the gold.
The machine is so light that one man can easily handle and
move it from place to place.

The fuel oil is contained in a tank which is mounted on wheels,

and is provided with a blower to force air into the tank and oil

out. A lead of pipe runs under a piece of sheet iron, usually

three feet long by twenty inches wide, which has beveled sides.

Beneath the cover is a coil of perforated pipe through which the

oil makes its escape and is burned. It is so arranged there is

always a downward draft, and the force of the flame is continually

against the ground.

Old Miner's Advice.

Here is some good advice by an old miner to " tenderfeet,"
who are apt to stampede easily and be led to run after false gods :

" If you have once got a claim that is paying a faiily satisfac-
tory amount of gold stick to it. You are just about as apt to
strike a rich pocket there as anywhere else, and it is much better
to be taking out even a comparatively small sum regularly than
to spend your time roving from one place to another, and get-
ting next to nothing anywhere. You have got to have perse-
verance, and be willing to plod in this pursuit, as well as in any
other, if you want to succeed in it."

It is advice worth pondering and heeding.

HYDRAULIC MINING WASHING OUT THE GOLD.

395

396 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

Placers, wherever found, are indications of gold-bearing veins
in the neighborhood. Alaska is believed to be no exception to
the apparent rule. That rich quartz will be found in the high-
lands of the Territory there seems to be no good reason to
doubt, and the day when the subterranean mining industry will
be the principal resource of the '' Seward Purchase " may not be
far distant. As usual, the first craze was over the placers, but
the extraordinary richness of the surfacings attracted the atten-
tion of men of capital, and their agents are already in the field
prospecting for gold-bearing quartz. The sequence of develop-
ment in new gold fields is always the same — first, the men with
pans to gather the riches on the surface ; next, miners with " long
Toms " ; third, hydraulicking, and then, quartz mining under-
ground. Alaska may break the record for getting into the

fourth stage.

How Gold Came to Klondike.

Professor Frederick Wright, writing of '* How Gold Came to
the Klondike," says :

" Little is known about the geology of the Yukon River, where
the Klondike mines have been found. Being placer mines, the
gold may have been transported many miles. The means of
transportation are both glaciers and rivers. The Klondike region
is on the north side of the St. Elias Alps. Alaska was never
completely covered with glacial ice. The glaciers flowed both
north and south from these summits. Dawson and Professor
Russell both report well-defined terminal moraines across the
upper Yukon Valley. The source of the Klondike gold, there-
fore, is from the south.

Placer mines originate in the disintegration of gold-bearing
quartz veins or mass like that at Juneau. Under subaerial agen-
cies these become dissolved. Then the glaciers transport the
material as far as they go, when the floods of water carry it on

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 397

still further. Gold, being heavier than the other materials asso-
ciated with it, lodges in the crevasses or in the rough places at
the bottom of the streams. So to speak, nature has stamped
and panned the gravel first and prepared the way for man to finish
the work. The amount of gold found in the placer mines is
evidence not so much perhaps of a very rich vein as of the dis-
integration of a very large vein.

" The * mother lode ' has been looked for in vain in California,
and perhaps will be so in Alaska. But it exists somewhere up
the streams on which the placer mines are found. The discovery
of gold in glacial deposits far away from its native place is
familiar to American geologists.

" It is evident, however, that in Alaska the transportation of
gold has not gone so far."

General Duffield, Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, also inclines to the glacier view. He says :

" The gold has been ground out of the quartz by the pressure
of the glaciers, which lie and move along the courses of the
streams, exerting a tremendous pressure. This force is present
to a more appreciable extent in Alaska than elsewhere, and I be-
lieve that as a consequence more placer gold will be found in
that region than in any other part of the world."

Dr. Everett's Views.

Dr. Willis E. Everett, of Tacoma, says :

" Alaska was once under glaciers, and the gold now found un-
doubtedly comes from glacial action, primarily, which has been
going on for many centuries. The miners are finding, however,
that what they usually consider bed rock is only a false bed rock,
and that underneath there is still another bed rock, with larger
lumps of gold than are found on the first. I believe that the
country in the interior, back of Klondike, will furnish enormous

398 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

quantities of gold, and that the rich strikes already made are but
a small beginning. The district will prove to be about 300 miles
square."

This theory of Dr. Everett would seem to be borne out by
the experience of a young Chicago ** tenderfoot " who, being un-
learned in miner's traditions, not only dug down to hard-pan,
but went straight on through the clay and found a fabulously
rich deposit of "dust" and nuggets. Had he been an old miner
he would have stopped at hard-pan and the treasure would not
have been uncovered.

Professor Emmon's Theory.

Professor S. F. Emmons, of the Geological Survey, says :
"The real mass of golden wealth in Alaska remains as yet un-
touched. It lies in the virgin rocks, from which the particles
found in the river gravels now being washed by the Klondike
miners have been torn by the erosion of streams. These parti-
cles, being heavy, have been deposited by the streams, which
carried the lighter matter onward to the ocean, thus forming, by
gradual accumulation, a sort of auriferous concentrate. Many
of the bits, especially in certain localities, are big enough to be
called nuggets. In spots the gravels are so rich that, as we
have all heard, many ounces of the yellow metal are obtained
from the washing of a single panful. That is what is making
the people so wild — the prospect of picking money out of the
dirt by the handful literally."

Gold-bearing quartz is plentiful in the southeastern portion of
Alaska, around the great Alaska-Treadwell and Alaska-Mexican
mines and their smaller likenesses. Such quartz has been found
in Cone Hill, midway in the valley of the Forty-Mile, and vague
reports of quartz finds worth working have come in from other
sections which the winter's prospecting is expected to verify.

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 399

And in the spring, too, " Lucky " Baldwin starts out to find the
" mother lode." There is no doubt that lode mining will be
carried on in the Alaskan mountains when the country is settled.

Banks and Banking.

After the miner on the Yukon has dug and panned out his
gold, although the country is full of naturally honest men and
of others as honest as a wholesome fear of Judge Lynch can
make them, his next thought will be where he can stow it away
and keep it safe till he gets ready to carry it back to civilization.
Heretofore he has deposited it, if he banked it all, with Captain
Healy in his safe at Circle City. Next year he will have bank-
ing facilities of approved pattern at his very door.

The North American Transportation and Trading Company
has decided to carry out the plan of establishing five, and possi-
bly six, banks on the Yukon, at Dawson City, Fort Cudahy
Circle City, Fort Get There and St. Michael's. W. H. Hubbard,
of Chicago, went into the basin via the Chilkoot Pass in August
to complete the arrangements for opening the institutions. Be-
fore leaving for Alaska, he said :

"The banks will be primarily banks of exchange. We shall
accept gold dust and sell exchange on Chicago, New York and
San Francisco for it. In Chicago we shall accept currency and
issue letters of credit to those going into the mines.

"As I understand it, gold dust is the only * currency ' in the
interior of Alaska. It passes current for $i'/ an ounce, its
market value being a trifle more than that amount. Gold dust
is used even in petty transactions, as there is not enough silver
for change. A miner going into a saloon for a drink takes out
his bag of dust, lays it on the bar, and the saloon-keeper weighs
the fifty cents or one dollar and hands back the change. All
supplies are paid for in like manner.

400 GOLD MINING IN ALASKA.

*' Loans by the banks will be a later consideration. No
doubt traders will flock in and all kinds of business established.
The merchants there as elsewhere probably will need accommo-
dations, and where their standing warrants it we shall let them
have money. The banking business is in embryo. My work
will be to establish it at the five posts which the North American
Company has founded."

The Canadian Government has under consideration a project
for the establishment of a " treasure house " at Dawson City in
which will be stored the miners' gold and for which they will
receive drafts on United States or Canadian banks for the full
market value of their " dust."

If the gold is stored in a central place, under this proposed
plan, the officials of the law will find the task of preserving
order greatly simplified, for the miners will not be under the
necessity of carrying arms, nor will the rougher sort likely
spend as much gold in riotous living. It will, of course, be
necessary for the government to take great precaution to insure
the safety of the gold, but the presence of fifty or a hundred
mounted police and three or four Maxim guns will be a great
deterrent to the envious and greedy.

Wells, Fargo & Co. will likely establish an office in Dawson

City in the spring.

Effects of Discovery.

Touching the effect of the discovery of gold in Alaska,
Director of the Mint Preston, said :

"It is too early to determine. We cannot expect to see
any material effect in the London market, where gold is quoted
every day, until a year or two have passed.

" I should judge from all accounts that the discoveries of the
Klondike region would add a tremendous amount of gold to the
world's stock. The tendency of this will be, of course, to

GOLD MINING IN ALASKA. 401

increase the value of silver, but I doubt if it will very greatly
raise its market value. At any rate, we must wait from one to
two years to determine that.

" It is unfair to assume that the increase in the value of silver
resulting from the discovery of gold in Alaska will be anything
like that which resulted in the early '50s from the discoveries in
California and in Australia. At that time the supply of silver
in the United States was almost nil, and there was very little
silver coinage. At the present time, however, there is so much
silver that the world, as the market has indicated this week, does
not know what to do with it. There cannot be expected, there-
fore, a very high jump in the price of silver under any discovery
of gold."

CHAPTER XIV.
Resume of Mining Laws.

Law and Order — Fees for Mining — Rights of Miners — Quartz Mining-
Surveys and Reservations — Voice of the Press — Penalties Imposed — Call
for United States Troops — Size of Claims— Canadian Laws.

IN gold mining the law may be the survival of the fittest, but
it is not the rule of the strongest. Every phase of the
work is hedged around by legal enactments, and the miners
are obliged to observe as much red tape, away out in the wilder-
ness, thousands of miles from civilization, as a citizen would in
New York or Chicago.

On the American side of the boundary line all mining opera-
tions are subject only to the United States mining laws and the
general laws of the State of Oregon, as they existed in 1884,
when the law providing a civil government for Alaska was
passed.

That law provided "that the general laws of the State of
Oregon now in force are hereby declared to be the law in said
district, so far as the same be applicable and not in conflict with
the provisions of this act or the laws of the United States."

Thus the laws of Oregon in force May 17, 1884, are the laws
of Alaska. As a matter of fact, however, little attention to
niceties of detail is ever paid. In a large sense, the law of
the miners is an unwritten code, but that code is kept within the
legal statutes.

On the Canadian side of the boundary — that is, in Klondike —
the mining laws of British Columbia are in force. For the con-
venience of readers who may contemplate trying their fortunes
in the great Northwest a digest of the mining laws of both coun-
tries is herewith given.

402

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 403

The Placer Mining Law of the United States, from the Revised
Statutes, provides as follows :

The term " placer claim " as defined by the Supreme Court of
the United States, is : " Ground within defined boundaries which
contains mineral in its earth, sand or gravel ; ground that in-
cludes valuable deposits not in place, that is, not fixed in rock,
but which are in a loose state, and may in most cases be collected
by washing or amalgamation without milling."

The manner of locating placer mining claims differ from that
of locating claims upon veins or lodes. In locating a vein or
lode claim, the United States Statutes provide that no claim shall
extend more than 300 feet on each side of the middle of the vein
at the surface, and that no claim shall be limited by mining regu-
lations to less than 2 5 feet on each side of the middle of the vein
at the surface. In locating claims called ** placers," however,
the law provides that no location of such claim upon surveyed
lands shall include more than 20 acres for each individual claim-
ant. The Supreme Court, however, has held that one individual
can hold as many locations as he can purchase and rely upon
his possessory title ; that a separate patent for each location is
unnecessary.

Proof of Citizenship.

Locaters, however, have to show proof of citizenship or inten-
tion to become citizens. This may be done in the case of an
individual by his own affidavit ; in the case of an association in-
corporated by a number of individuals by the affidavit of their
authorized agent, made on his own knowledge or upon informa-
tion and belief; and in the case of a company organized under
the laws of any State or Territory, by the filing of a certified
copy of the charter or certificate of incorporation.

A patent for any land claimed and located may be obtained
in the following manner : " Any person, association or corpora-

404 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

tion authorized to locate a claim, having claimed and located a
piece of land, and who has or have complied with the terms of
the law, may file in the proper land ofifice an application for a
patent, under oath, showing such compliance, together with a
plat and field notes of the claim or claims in common made by
or under the direction of the United States Surveyor General,
showing accurately the boundaries of the claim or claims, which
shall be distinctly marked by monuments on the ground, and
shall post a copy of such plat, together with a notice of such
application for a patent, in a conspicuous place on the land em-
braced in such plat, previous to the application for a patent on
such plat ; and. shall file an afHdavit of at least two persons that
such notice has been duly posted, and shall file a copy of the
notice in such land office ; and shall thereupon be entitled to a
patent to the land in the manner following :

Publishing of Notices.

"The registrar of said land ofifice upon the filing of such appli-
cation, plat, field notes, notices and affidavits, shall publish a
notice that such application has been made, for a period of sixty
days, in a newspaper to be by him designated, as published
nearest to such claim ; and he shall post such notice in his office
for the same period. The claimant at the time of filing such ap-
plication or at any time thereafter, within sixty days of publica-
tion, shall file with the registrar a certificate of the United States
Surveyor General that ^500 worth of labor has been expended
or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors ;
that the plat is correct, with such further description by refer-
ence to natural objects or permanent monuments as shall identify
the claim and furnish an accurate description to be incorporated
in the patent. At the expiration of the sixty days of publication,
the claimant shall file his affidavit showing that the plat and

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 405

notice have been posted in a conspicuous place on the claim dur-
ing such period of publication."

If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the registrar of
the land office at the expiration of said sixty days, the claimant
is entitled to a patent upon the payment to the proper officer of
;$5 per acre in the case of a lode claim, and 1^2.50 per acre for a
placer.

The location of a placer claim and keeping possession thereof
until a patent shall be issued are subject to local laws and customs.

It will be seen from the following that the Mining Laws of
British Columbia differ somewhat in detail from those of the
United States, but are designed to cover essentially the same
points and subserve the same purpose. The Canadian Statute ^
make these provisions :

Placer Mining — Registration and Fees.

At the close of the second sitting of the Canadian Cabino
it was announced that the Government had decided to im^
pose a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon in addition
to ;gl 5 registration fee and ;^ 100 annual assessment. The royalty
will be 10 per cent, each on claims with an output of ;$500 or
less monthly, and 20 per cent, on every claim yielding above
that amount monthly. Besides this royalty it has been decided
in regard to all future claims staked out on other streams or
rivers, that every alternate claim should be the property of the
Government, and should be reserved for public purposes and
sold or worked by the Government for the benefit of the revenue
of the Dominion.

For " bar diggings " — A strip of land 100 feet wide at high-
water mark, and thence extending into the river at its lowest
water level.

For " dry diggings " — kx) feet square.

406 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

For "creek and river claims " — 500 feet along the direction of
the stream, extending in width from base to base of the hill or
bench on either side. The width of such claims, however, is
limited to 600 feet when the benches are a greater distance apart
than that. In such a case claims are laid out in areas of 10
acres, with boundaries running north and south, east and west.

For "bench claims " — 100 feet square.

Size of claims to discoverers or parties of discoverers — To
one discoverer, 300 feet in length ; to a party of two, 600 feet
in length ; to a party of three, 800 feet in length ; to a party of
four, 1000 feet in length ; to a party of more than four, ordinary
sized claims only.

New strata of auriferous gravel in a locality where claims are
abandoned, or dry diggings discovered in the vicinity of bar
diggings, or vice versa, shall be deemed new mines.

Rights and Duties of Miners.

Entries of grants for placer mining must be renewed and
entry fee paid every year.

No miner shall receive more than one claim in the same local-
ity, but may hold any number of claims by purchase, and any
number of miners may unite to work their claims in common,
provided an agreement be duly registered and a registration fee
of $S be duly paid therefor.

Claims may be mortgaged or disposed of, provided such dis-
posal be registered and a registration fee of ;^2 be paid therefor.

Although miners shall have exclusive right of entry upon
their claims for the " miner-like " working of them, holders of
adjacent claims shall be granted such right of entry thereon as
may seem reasonable to the superintendent of mines.

Each miner shall be entitled to so much of the water not pre-
viously appropriated flowing through or past his claim as the

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 407

superintendent oif mines shall deem necessary to work it, and
shall be entitled to drain his own claim free of charge.

Claims remaining unworked on working days for seventy-two
hours are deemed abandoned, unless sickness or other reason-
able cause is shown, or unless the grantee is absent on leave.

For the convenience of miners on back claims, on benches or
slopes, permission may be granted by the superintendent of
mines to tunnel through claims fronting on water courses.

In case of the death of a miner, the provisions of abandon-
ment do not apply during his last illness or after his decease.

Acquisition of Mining Locations.

Marking of locations — Wooden posts, four inches square,
driven eighteen inches into the ground and projecting eighteen
inches above it, must mark the four corners of a location. In
rocky ground stone mounds three feet in diameter may be piled
about the post. In timbered land well-blazed lines must join
the posts. In rolling or uneven localities flattened posts must
be placed at intervals along the lines to mark them, so that sub-
sequent explorers shall have no trouble in tracing such lines.

When locations are bounded by lines running north and south,
east and west, the stake at the northeast corner shall be marked
by a cutting instrument or by colored chalk, " M. L. No. i"
(mining location, stake number i). Likewise the southeasterly
stake shall be marked " M. L. No. 2," the southwesterly ** M. L.
No. 3 " and the northwesterly *' M. L. No. 4." Where the
boundary lines do not run north and south, east and west, the
northerly stake shall be marked i, the easterly 2, the southerly
3 and the westerly 4. On each post shall be marked also the
claimant's initials and the distance to the next post.

Application and affidavit of discoverer — Within sixty days
after marking his location the claimant shall file in the office of

408 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

the dominion land office for the district a formal declaration,
sworn to before the land agent, describing as nearly as may be
the locality and dimensions of the location. With such declara-
tion he must pay the agent an entry fee of ;^ 5 .

Receipt issued to discoverer — Upon such payment the agent
shall grant a receipt authorizing the claimant, or his legal repre-
sentative, to enter into possession, subject to renewal every year
for five years, provided that in these five years ;^ioo shall be ex-
pended on the claim in actual mining operations. A detailed
statement of such expenditure must also be filed with the agent
of Dominion lands, in the form of an affidavit corroborated by two
reliable and disinterested witnesses.

Annual renewal of location certificate — Upon payment of the
;^5 fee therefor a receipt shall be issued entitling the claimant to
hold the location for another year.

Rules for Partnerships.

Working in partnership — Any party of four or less neighbor-
ing miners, within three months after entering, may, upon being
authorized by the agent, make upon any one of such locations,
during the first and second years, but not subsequently, the ex-
penditure otherwise required on each of the locations. An
agreement, however, accompanied by a fee of ;^ 5, must be filed
with the agent. Provided, however, that the expenditure made
upon any one location shall not be applicable in any manner or
for any purpose to any other location.

Purchase of location — At any time before the expiration of
five years from date of entry a claimant may purchase a location
upon filing with the agent proof that he has expended ;^500 in
actual mining operations on the claim and complied with all
other prescribed regulations. The price of a mining location
shall be $^ per acre, cash.

RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

409

On making an application to purchase, the claimant must
deposit with the agent $$0, to be deemed as payment to the
government for the survey of his location. On receipt of plans

\N THE HANDS OF A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE.

and field notes, and approval by the surveyor general, a patent
shall issue to the claimant.

Reversion of title — Failure of a claimant to prove within each
year the expenditure prescribed, or failure to pay the agent the

410 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

full cash price, shall cause the claimant's right to lapse and the
location to revert to the crown, along with the improvements
upon it.

Rival claimants — When two or more persons claim the same
location, the right to acquire it shall be in him who can prove he
was the first to discover the mineral deposit involved, and to take
possession in the prescribed manner. Priority of discovery alone,
however, shall not give the right to acquire. A subsequent dis-
coverer, who has complied with other prescribed conditions, shall
take precedence over a prior discoverer who has failed so to comply.

When a claimant has in bad faith used the prior discovery of
another and has fraudulently affirmed that he made independent
discovery and demarcation, he shall, apart from other legal con-
sequences, have no claim, forfeit his deposit and be absolutely
debarred from obtaining another location.

Rival applicants — Where there are two or more applicants for
a mining location, neither of whom is the original discoverer, the
Minister of the Interior may invite competitive tenders or put it
up for public auction, as he sees fit.

Transfer of Mining Rights.

Assignment of right to purchase — An assignment of the right
to purchase a location shall be indorsed on the back of the
receipt or certificate of assignment, and execution thereof
witnessed by two disinterested witnesses. Upon the deposit of
such receipt in the office of the land agent, accompanied by a
registration fee of $2^ the agent shall give the assignee a certifi-
cate entitling him to all the rights of the original discoverer. By
complying with the prescribed regulations such assignee becomes
entitled to purchase the location.

Regulations in respect to placer mining, so far as they relate
to entries, entry fees, assignments, marking of locations, agents'

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 411

receipts, etc., except where otherwise provided, apply also to
quartz mining.

Nature and size of claims — A location shall not exceed the
following dimensions : Length, 1 500 feet ; breadth, 600 feet.
The surface boundaries shall be from straight parallel lines, and
its boundaries beneath the surface the planes of these lines.

Limit to number of locations — Not more than one mining
location shall be granted to any one individual claimant upon
the same lode or vein.

Mill sites — Land used for milling purposes may be applied
for and patented, either in connection with or separate from a
mining location, and may be held in addition to a mining loca-
tion, provided such additional land shall in no case exceed five

acres.

General Provisions.

Decision of disputes — The Superintendent of Mines shall have
power to hear and determine all disputes in regard to mining
property arising within his district, subject to appeal by either of
the parties to the commissioner of dominion lands.

Leave of absence — Each holder of a mining location shall be
entitled to be absent and suspend work on his diggings during
the " close" season, which " close" season shall be declared by
the agent in each district, under instructions from the minister of
the interior.

The agent may grant a leave of absence pending the decision
of any dispute before him.

Any miner is entitled to a year's leave of absence upon prov-
ing expenditure of not less than ;^200 without any reasonable
return of gold.

The time occupied by a locator in going to and returning from
the office of the agent or of the superintendent of mines shall
not count against him.

412 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

Additional locations — The minister of the interior may grant
to a person actually developing a location an adjoining location
equal in size, provided it be shown to the minister's satisfaction
that the vein being worked will probably extend beyond the
boundaries of the original location.

Forfeiture — In event of the breach of the regulations, a right
or grant shall be absolutely forfeited, and the offending party
shall be incapable of subsequently acquiring similar rights except
by special permission of the minister of the interior.

Trouble Over Mining Laws.

It was natural to expect that in a mining region so remote
from districts in which there was an established order of affairs,
in two countries between which there was a boundary line dis-
pute of long standing — and in governments, or nominal govern-
ments, laws in unsettled regions are bound to be more or less
dead letters — where mining was done under different systems of
regulations and requirements, there should be more or less
jealousy, friction and trouble.

Those who predicted a clash- — and there were many such on
the first news of the discovery of gold in the Klondike wilds
reaching southern cities — were not disappointed.

Differences did arise almost immediately. These were due
partly to a misunderstanding or an ignoring of the existing
mining laws and partly to the greed of Great Britain in seeking
to make a rich thing of the find by imposing exactions on the
miners who crossed the real or alleged boundary line and staked
off claims on the territory claimed by Canada.

The Canadian government lost no time in taking official action
and there was a prospect of international hostilities.

On July 30, 1 897, the Dominion Cabinet reached an important
decision as to the imposition of a tax in the Yukon district on all

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 413

American miners. This perhaps is best told in a telegraphic
report from Ottawa, which was sent out at the time. Says this
report :

" Under the regulations recently issued the fee for registering
a claim was fixed at $1^, while an annual assessment of $ioo
was to be paid by the holder. Now, in addition to this, a
royalty of lo per cent, will be levied upon the output of all
claims yielding ^500 and under to each claim, and 20 per cent,
upon each claim yielding over that amount.

"Among those posted the opinion is freely expressed that it
will be impossible to so supervise the output of these thousands
of individual claims as to collect royalty upon the exact yield.
Another obstacle is the fact that the mines all lie within a com-
paratively short distance of the boundaries. There is nothing to
prevent the miner from carrying the bulk of his gold dust, on
the quiet, down the river to the boundary line, and once in
American territory he is out of the jurisdiction of the Canadian
tax collector.

Reservation of Grounds.

" In addition to the royalty every alternate claim In all placer
grounds is to be reserved as the property of the government.
These government reserves are to be sold or worked by the
government for the benefit of the revenue of the Dominion.
This is considered a startling departure from all the traditions of
placer mining the world over.

" Two customs officers will be dispatched to a point near
Li^ke Tagish, where all goods sent in by the Taiya route (Chll-
ka^t Pass) can be intercepted. At this point also a strong
mciunted police post will be erected, and the strength of the
Yukon police will be augumented by an additional detachment
of eighty men. Small police posts will be established about
fifty miles apart up to Fort Selkirk. These will serve as station:;

414 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

for the dog trains carrying mails, and also for the relief of such
travelers as may make the journey overland during the winter.

" There will be established a regular monthly mail service
between Taiya and Fort Selkirk. The government has also
determined to test the feasibility of connecting Dawson City
with Taiya by means of a telegraph line. Should it be found
impracticable to construct an ordinary overhead system a species
of land cable mav be employed to convey the wire laid on the
surface.

" In the meantime the survey for a route overland from Taiya
will be pushed, and upon the surveyors' report will depend the
carrying out of the proposal of constructing a wagon road
through the country at least to the head of uninterrupted navi-
gation on the Yukon River. Diplomatic communication will be
entered into with the United States authorities for the purpose of
establishing a modus vivendi so as to give the Canadian Govern-
ment the right of way through the country."

The miners summarily condemned the action of the Dominion
Cabinet and rose up almost to a man against the payment of the
tax. They denounced the step as rank robbery and declared
that the Dominion officers would have a high time in collecting
the monies levied.

Much indignation was aroused not less in the press than
».mong the public, as the following newspaper comments show :

Press Is Indignant.

Bulletin : Canada cannot very well hold on to all the gold in
the Klondike, but the Dominion Government will put a royalty
on claims and gather in as large a share as possible. Let the
Dominion statesmen go on if they think there is no such thing
as manifest destiny.

Evening Report : The news about the imposition of a mining

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 415

tax by the Canadian Government suggests that a war vessel be
sent to Dawson City without loss of time.

Chronicle: The Dominion Government has thrown fairness
and caution to the winds and gone to the unexpected length of
imposing a royalty on all placer diggings on the Yukon, besides
a ;^I5 registration fee and ;^ioo annual assessment. The royalty
named is lo per cent, on claims with an output of ;?500 or less
monthly, and 20 per cent, on every claim yielding above that
amount. Additionally, the government will reserve every alter-
nate claim in any new gold district that may be found, and will
impose a heavy tariff upon all goods coming in from the Ameri-
can side.

With the latter proviso we do not, of course, find fault, but
the proceeding as a whole shows an intent to keep American
miners out of the field in which they were pioneers and where
they have uncovered the richest finds.

The Canadian government, however, apparently meant busi-
ness, and it proceeded to cloister the tax it had imposed with a
certain amount of terror in the way of penalties. According to
the amended regulations issued, any miner who defrauds the
government will be made liable to the confiscation of his claim
and the withdrawal of his right to have any holding in the
future. The penalty for the trespassing clause reads as follows :

Penalties are Imposed.

" Entry shall only be granted for alternate claims, the other
alternate claims being reserved for the crown, to be disposed of
at public auction or in such manner as may be decided by the
Minister of the Interior. The penalty for trespassing upon a
claim reserved for the crown shall be the immediate cancellation
by the gold commissioner of any entry the trespasser may have
obtained for a mining claim, and the refusal of the acceptance of

416

RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

any application which the trespasser may ar any time make for a
claim. In addition to such penalty the mounted police, upon

LYNCH LAW IN KLONDIKE.

requisition from the gold commissioner, shall take necessary steps
to eject the trespasser."

A scheme wis likewise devised by the Canadians to prevent or
limit the flow of gold to this country. This move also met the
bitterest opposition, from the fact that a large percentage of the
miners in the Klondike district were Americans who went there.

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 417

braving perils and hardships, on a mere chance of making for-
tunes, and who resented being taxed for the privilege in the first
place, and, in the second place, having restrictions placed upon
them as to the disposition of their finds.

The scheme was devised by Captain Strickland. Following
is a report of his plan :

" Captain Strickland said the plan which he has already sug-
gested, and which the Dominion government was inclined to favor,
provided they had a large enough police force to be assured of carry-
ing it out, was to pass a law prohibiting the export of gold except
by Dominion officials. The gold dust brought in by the miners
of all nationalities would be carefully weighed by officials of the
Canadian government. A fixed value would be placed on the
metal, according to assayers* estimates, and this value would be
paid in money of only local value."

Klondike a Free Country.

In official circles in the United States the manifestos of Canada
were deemed '* amusing literature." Said one of the leading
officials of the State Department at the time :

" The gold fields are free to all. Of course it is possible for
Great Britain to pass an alien law which would keep citizens of
the United States out of the new gold fields, but the result would
be that it would keep their own people out as well, for, while it
is true that the fields already explored seem to be on Canadian
territory, they cannot be reached at all except by passing through
the American territory of Alaska. It is well nigh impossible to
make the journey overland from British Columbia to Forty-Mile
Creek or any of the headwaters of the Yukon. It is necessary
to go through Alaska to get to the gold fields, and the gold
which is taken from there must go through Alaska to get to
civilization.
27

418 RESUME OF MINING LAWS.

"The Canadians have been talking of establishing custom
houses to levy some kind of a toll on the importation of supplies.
There has been no talk of any prohibition of mining by Ameri-
can citizens, for if that were done all we would have to do would
be to prevent the transit of Canadian miners across our territory,
and thereupon the gold fields would have to be abandoned.

** Up to the present time no mortal man can say exactly where
the boundary line between the American and the British posess-
ions runs. The meridian fixed by the treaty has not been deter-
mined astronomically. The preliminary surveys show that the
new gold fields are on Canadian soil, but the margin is so slight
that neither government would care to assert authority where
there is nothing to be gained by it. The miners themselves have
established a local government, as is the case in all mining fields,
but when the proper time comes the British Government, which
is the best equipped in the world for looking after far-away de-
pendencies, will take care of its own, American miners can go
there without fear of interference on the part of Canada, but the
information in our possession goes to show that many of those
who do go will never return, for a famine in the Yukon country
during the long winter season seems to be almost inevitable."

John Sherman Talks.

In the matter of an alien law. Secretary of State, John Sher-
man made the following statement :

" We have an alien law of our own. We have never enforced
it against gold miners. Canadian citizens have been free to
come into the United States and mine for gold under the same
terms that our own citizens did. There has never been any
friction over the matter.

" Where a man has taken up a land claim for the purpose of
residence and cultivation we have always insisted that he be a

RESUME OF MINING lAWS. 419

citizen. The same has been done under the Canadian Govern-
ment.

" Where a man has simply prospected for gold with the
intention of digging into the ground a little ways and taking
what he could find from land against which there was already
no claim, he has never been interferred with on our side of the
boundar>\ I do not think that the Canadian Government will
change that course of procedure. If they do it may lead to
fully as much embarrassment to them as to our miners.

Through Clinched Teeth.

Canadians, however, continued to talk through clinched teeth,
and, on an intimation being made that the United States would
look out for the interests of its citizens, spoke with satisfaction
of the policy of backing up the Dominion's claims with guns.

" It is hardly necessary," says the Toronto World, " to reply
to the threats of Americans in the matter. The government of
Canada has already made its reply, and that reply is based on
action, not on words. A large force of mounted police and two
Maxim guns are now on the way to the Klondike country, and
if the miners whom the United States journals are inciting to
revolt only make the attempt, they will perhaps meet with a
reception warmer than they anticipated.

" Surely it is time that the people of this country, and espe-
cially the party in power, began to consider the relations of
Canada with the United States from an entirely new standpoint.
Hitherto the Liberal party has regarded this people as a friendly
neighbor, from whom Canadians might expect fair treatment, at
the least, while our habit has been to yield to them over much,
and rather to supplicate such treatment from them than demand
it as of right."

The United States government meant to stand by its word and

420 llESUME OP' MINING LAWS.

protect its people, though. There was a call for troops, and on
July 26, 1897, the following telegram was sent:

" Washington, D. C, July 26, 1897. — Shafter, Commanding
Department of California : Can you spare a full company of in-
fantry for the establishment of a post at Circle City this season
for the protection of American interests ? Men ma)- be selected
for duty from various commands. Answer immediately.

** Alger, Secretary."

General Shafter answered in the affirmative, and as a result of
orders Captain Patrick Henry Ray, Eighth United States Infantry,
stationed at Cheyenne, Wyo., was instructed to take a detach-
ment of troops to the Yukon district. The troops sailed from
Seattle — six officers and fifty-six men — on August 5th, by way
of St. Michael's for Circle City, and the thousands who were on
their way or who intended to go to the gold fields had the assur-
ance that they and their interests would be protected.

Limited Size of Claims.

Early in August of 1 897, too, the Canadian government took
a new tack in the matter of mining regulations by restricting the
size of claims that would be allowed. Instead of allowing 500
feet, as the regular law provided, the Dominion decided that it
would fix the limit at 100 feet. This decision was made on
August 9th, to go into effect immediately. This was designed to
revolutionize the old plan of operations, which is thus described
by Thomas Cook, an old miner who spent years in the region :

" In Canada the placer mines are, as a matter of course, close
to the water and every man when he makes his prospect is
allowed to stake off about what he considers 500 feet on each
side of the place up and down the river. That gives him the
width of his claim 1000 feet, and this width extends from the river
back to the foot of the mountain, whether it is a caiion or a plain.

RESUME OF MINING LAWS. 421

" Then he puts up his stake and the government surveyor
comes along and sets off the 500 feet each way exactly. Every
man must pay a license of ;$ 1 5 a year and he must put in three
months' work on the claim during the year. If the work is not
done, there are plenty of men ready to report him and take the
claim.

''Americans like the Canadian laws better than the laws of the
United States, because they know their claims are better pro-
tected, and there is no claim-jumping so long as a man abides
by the laws. The government follows up the miners by build-
ing roads. I don't want to say anything against our own laws,
for I am an American, but it is a fact that we get better protec-
tion and the government takes more interest in helping the
miners along in Canada."

The new mining enactment passed by the Dominion expressly

forbids the "grub-staking" of prospectors or prospecting by

proxy. In the future if any man wants a lawful share of the

riches of the Klondike region he must work with pick, shovel

and gold pan.

Slap at the United States.

The law, it was said, is clearly a slap at the United States.
It is intended to restrict the immigration of American miners.
By the provisions of the act it is unlawful for any person or cor-
poration to prepay transportation " or in any way assist or
encourage the importation or immigration of any foreigner or
alien into Canada."

All such contracts are declared void and unlawful, and the
penalty attached is ^1000 for each and every offense, and all
parties to the contract are individually liable.

The " exemptions " from the act include nearly all classes of
labor except mining and prospecting. Informers are to receive
50 per cent, of the penalties collected.

CHAPTER XV.

Gold Crazes of Other Days.

Mining Excitements in Other Countries — Australia and South Africa lay the
Old World under Tribute — Outbreaks of the Fever in America — Early-
Case in North Carolina — Stampede of '49 — "Pike's Peak or Bust" —
Recollections of the Argonauts — The Rocky Belle Camp Craze — Rush
to Stevens' Claim — Excitement About Tombstone — Placers in Baja, Cali-
fornia— Harqua Hala Diggings^Randsburg and Its Boom — Comparisons
with Klondike — What the Early Stampedes Cost in Cash and Life.

FROM the far-away days of the Scriptural land of Havilah,
the world has been subject to going crazy over discoveries
of gold. A large part of history is a record of events for
which gold has been more or less directly responsible. Most of
the wars of invasion have been waged to gain gold, or its equiv-
alent in transmutable form. Gold lured the Spaniards to the
Antilles and the Englishman to Virginia. Lust for gold cost the
Aztecs an empire and enslaved the Incas. Gold hunters gave
Australia and New Zealand and South Africa to civilization. Gold
has never had but one rival as a civilizer — religion — and, to pro-
duce a stampede, not even plague or famine ever equalled it.

Though Australia and South Africa had some gold excite-
ments which laid the Old World well under tribute for the bravest
and sturdiest, as well as the greediest of its population, America,
and especially the United States, has had more gold fevers and
had them harder than any other region on the globe. There was
as much of a craze as the new country could stand, probably,
when gold was discovered in the Carolinas, when the nation was
a youngster, and there were some other relatively minor outbreaks
of the auriferous malady in other sections early in the century;
but it was not until the war with Mexico had given both the
opportunity and the hardy men to take advantage of it, by stimu

422

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 423

lating the spirit of Western exploration, that America began in
real earnest to show of what it was capable when the gold fever
"struck in."

California, Pike's Peak, Washoe, Salmon River, Frazer River,
Montana, Black Hills, Leadville, Tombstone, Kootenai, Cariboo,
Randsburg, Alaska — every one a stampede. Gold has made no
other history like it. Monte Cristo was a poor fellow in com-
parison with the heroes of those stampedes ; Ophir and Gol-
conda were poor " streaks " beside the treasure houses in the
mountains of those days ; and Mungo Park and Rider Haggard
prosy tellers of true stories, beside the masters of golden fiction,
that America produced or imported during the latter half of the
nineteenth century.

When the gold fields of California were discovered in the
** days of '49," the eastern half of the continent began to depopu-
late itself at a rate which brought a new State into the Union in
three years. The news of Major Sutter's wonderful strike in the
Sacramento sands crossed the ocean and European adventurers
joined in the rush to the Pacific slope.

Perils of '49.

Yet it was no child's pastime, that journey to the golden val-
leys of the Sierras nearly fifly years ago. Two thousand miles
of wilderness, partly a desert of perils, partly stern mountain
chains, bleak and impassable, had to be traversed and almost
every foot of the way was beset by blood-thirsty Indians or
marauding white renegades. Or else the argonaut risked the
hazards of the sea and either crossed the Isthmus of Panama and
dared its deadly fever, which too often undermined his health
for all time, or spent six months or a year in the monotonous
voyage " around the Horn." Anyway he went, it cost time and
money unstinted to reach the land of gold. And when they got

424 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

there they were out of the world. Everybody else was across
the mountains or the sea, mails were few, expensive and uncer-
tain, and it sometimes cost the total proceeds of a day's hard
work in the placer and took a year's time to get a letter to the
old home " in the States " and an answer from the dear ones
back again.

** This Alaska is a regular parlor game to what we had to
undergo in '49 and the early '50's," was how President Addison
Ballard, of the Forty-niners Association in Chicago put it.
"Cold! why we had to cross mountain tops that were covered
with ice and snow as cold as any ever produced in Alaska. We
had not only that to contend with, but also the blazing heat of
the tropics, the thousand and one dangers and trials of the plains,
the sufferings and privations of the most barren and sterile
and forbidding deserts ever crossed by man. Savage beasts and
still more savage men besetting every mile of our way and that
way was a trail across trackless plains through a country un-
developed, unopened and unknown.

Only Locomotive a Mule.

"All of this had to be contended against at a time when the
resources of civilization were comparatively primitive. We had
no railroads then, our only train was the prairie schooner, our
only locomotive a mule team or a span of oxen. We *had no
tinned meats, condensed milks or preserved fruits in those days ;
we had to do with the roughest food, sometimes furnished by
our rifles, and oftentimes that in scanty quantities. Then there
was the sickening, saddening oppressive sensation of being cut
off from the rest of the world and the possibility of never being
again brought in touch with home and friends and civilization."

George W. Custer, Auditor of the Board of Education, Chi-
cago, another '49er, who went overland in 1850, remembered

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 425

the hardships well enough to shudder as he talked of them. He
said :

"It was the fourth day of April, 1850, that my father
made up his mind to go to the California gold fields, and
started with his family across the country to where we were told
men could dig up nuggets with their heels right out of the soft
surface mold all over the peninsula of California. I shall never
forget our experiences on that trip. Hundreds of people started
out without sufficient money or provisions, and as a result they
perished of hunger and thirst on the great American desert of
the Salt Lake district, through which their path lay.

Fourth of July in the Desert.

" Our family formed a portion of the caravan known as the
Patterson Rangers. It was composed of twelve wagons, forty-
seven men and a boy (myself). We ate dinner on the Fourth
of July, 1850, right in the heart of the desert, and on that
evening we practically ran out of provisions. It was the poorest
Fourth of July dinner I ever remember to have eaten. I
remember it well. We each had a small piece of smoked meat
and a biscuit. My father, who had smuggled a small jar of
sweet jelly with him, smeared a little of it over my dry biscuit
in honor of the occasion.

" Our trail was littered with the remains of other caravans of
pioneers who had preceded us across the deadly waste. The
skeletons of men and animals dotted both sides of the trail, and
wagon wheels, old arms, rusty swords, broken rifles and other
relics of the victims of that terrible summer were lying around
in profusion. The value of the material that lay there decaying
on the desert would, I believe, if fairly computed, run up into
the hundreds of thousands of dollars."

And these were not even fair samples of the experiences of

426 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

hardship and peril of the California argonauts. Yet the craze
lasted and men by the thousand kept rushing West by land and
sea to the placers of the Pacific slope.

Then the Australian gold fever came on in 185 1 and 1852, and
right on top of that the Colorado discoveries — " Pike's Peak or
Bust " — and it seemed for a time as if all the civilized world
that was not already at the mines was pushing and crowding to
get there. Stories of disappointments and disasters to those
who had "gone in" did not deter those who were going; it
was according to the ethics of gold hunting that bad luck was
individual and good luck only was '* catching." And so they
rushed in, and where one '' struck it rich " nine '^ went broke."
The world had seen nothing like it since the Crusades.

The Rocky Belle Craze.

Arizona supplied some good samples of the gold fever in the
seventies. Probably the wildest and craziest stampede ever
known in the Southwest was that to the Rocky Belle Camp in
Northern Arizona, in the region of the Moqui Indian reservation,
in December, 1874. The region is 8000 feet above the sea level
and lies among snow-clad mountains. It was an unusually cold
winter when the news went abroad that Hank Binford and his
companion had struck a whole mountain of gold rock that as-
sayed over ;^900 to the ton.

A week more and over 2000 miners from every part of Arizona
and Southern California were moving day and night, scarcely
stopping for food and sleep, toward the Rocky Belle Camp.
Hundreds of men traveled 700 and 800 miles on foot and with
mules and donkeys to the new diggings, and nearly all traveled
across desert and mountain for a distance of 250 to 300 miles.
As the multitude journeyed on, the report of the riches of Hank
Binford's find grew until it seemed as if wagon loads of rich gold

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 427

ore awaited the travelers. Merchants and professional men in
Maricopa and Tucson, and that part of Southern Arizona became
imbued with the spirit of the miners, and, turning their business
over to others, joined in the movement on Rocky Belle.

The hardships that the fortune seekers suffered in the moun-
tains will never be fully known. A large number of men coming
out of the warm, balmy air of the semi-tropic valleys lost their
lives among the snowbanks and ice in the mountains, and many
a man was made an invalid for life because of exposure to the
biting cold during the stampede. A severe blizzard raged in
the mountains for several days while the miners were slowly
trudging through them. In one party of over lOO men from
New Mexico, four men were frozen to death one morning, and it
is thought that fully twenty more died in the same way in the
mountains at that time. To this day there are in California and
Arizona gray-haired miners who lack a finger, a toe, or an ear,
lost in the terrible cold of that stampede.

When the last of the Rocky Belle diggings were reached it
was soon seen that there was no ore in the district worth the
digging except in the claims held by Hank Binford and his
friends, and that the reports of their find had been exaggerated
beyond all reason. Binford' s own mine petered out a year or
two later, and he got only a few thousand dollars from it.

Stevens Starts a Stampede.

Along in the summer of 1878 a miner named Stevens wrote
to a friend in Phoenix that he had found a claim that beat any-
thing in mining outside of the Comstock lode in Nevada, and
that with a common iron mortar and pestle he had pounded out
from $^0 to ;^ioo worth of gold dust a day. The claim was
located 120 miles northeast from Kingman, near the since
famous Harqua Hala mining region, and there was a chance,

428 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

so Stevens wrote, for other men to strike it rich up there.

Of course, such news could not be kept quiet. It traveled
with miraculous speed through every camp in the Salt River
valley and over to Prescott. In less than two weeks all that
part of Arizona was deeply stirred by the reports, which no one
seemed to have time to investigate, of the richness of the mines
that Stevens had found. A thousand or more miners caught the
fever so badly that they started on foot across the country for
Stevens' camp without delay. It was a hot, dry summer and
the journey entailed several weeks of severe physical labor, tor-
turing thirsts and the endurance of a temperature that usually
stood over no degrees in the shade. A dozen men died from
fever and in wild delirium under that awful sky, and as many
more miners never recovered from disorders caused by the pri-
vations of that stampede across the desert of Arizona.

Having arrived at the Stevens' camp the excited men realized
that there were claims worth working by about loo men. Sev-
eral hundred claims were staked out in less than a day after the
excited miners got to the scene, but in a fortnight the camp
population fell from 1 200 to less than 400. In a month more
about 100 persons were left to do all the mining. The camp
was abandoned entirely ten years ago.

Mad Rush to Tombstone.

With the possible exception of the rush to the Leadville mining
district in Colorado, there has been none anywhere in forty years
attended with excitement that followed the news of the finding
of great deposits of gold and silver in Tombstone in 1879.
Miners from every part of the Pacific coast caught the fever for
gold, and as week after week samples of the Tombstone rock
were more widely circulated, and rumors went forth concerning
the fortune this or that man or company was getting out of the

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 4^

hills and mountains about the new camp, thousands started for
Tombstone.

Hundreds of young men and youths in the older States were
wild with zeal to hasten to the new Eldorado and started across
the continent with little or no preparation. In less than four
months after Gird and the Hawkinses began getting several
thousand dollars a day from their mines, there were over 6000
persons in the camp, and several months later Tombstone had a
population of over 10,000 men and 200 women. There never was
another camp in the Southwest like that at Tombstone in 1879
and 1880. Indeed, there have been very few similar communi-
ties in the world.

Wealth and Death Indiscriminately.

For over seven months the daily output of precious metal
averaged about ;^ 50,000. Over a dozen men went there penni-
less and came away worth over $500,000 in less than a year,
and six or seven men struck it rich and sold out for over
;^ 1,000,000 each. Fully half the population walked hundreds of
miles to get there. No railroad ran through Southern Arizona
in those days, and the awful Colorado and Mojave desserts had
to be crossed in wagons or on foot by the multitudes of fortune
seekers from California. Desert sandstorms were encountered
and for days travelers to Tombstone endured a temperature of
over 130 degrees in the shade. Many a man died on the hot,
sandy plains. Miners on their way to the new camp from the
East and South toiled across the Arizona alkali plains through
immense cactus areas, and risked their lives in the then hostile
land of the Apache Indians. But hardship, pain, suffering and
risk of life were all secondary to an early arrival in Tombstone
and the location of a mining claim.

When Tombstone was reached there were new privations and
more physical distress, for the greater number, especially for

430 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

those who had hastened from offices, stores, shops, clerkships and
the pastor's study. Over one-third of the men in camp had
very little money, or none at all, and knew no way of earning it
except by the hardest kind of manual labor, to which they were
unused. It cost $i a night to sleep in a dirty, rough pine bunk.
Water sold at 20 cents a gallon, a small dish of beans at 50
cents, tallow candles at 2 bits (25 cents), common overalls at
^5 each, smoked hams at ;^I2 each, and cowhide boots were
disposed of as fast as they could be hauled to camp across the
desert from Los Angeles and Yuma for $2$ a. pair. It was a
ground-hog case with these commodities for the first ten months
of Tombstone — take them at the price asked or go without.

Placer Mines in Lower California.

In the last ten years there have been four or five stampedes to
mining camps in the Southwest. In the middle of the winter of
1890 California, as far north as San Francisco and Arizona, as
far east as Prescott and Phoenix, were stirred up as they had not
been for several years by the news that rich placer mines had
been found by Mexicans in Lower California, seventy miles south
of San Diego. That was one of the most spontaneous stam-
pedes known in that region.

Samples of the pay dirt were sent to San Diego to be analyzed
one Sunday afternoon. The assayer found it would run over
;^400 to the ton. Somehow the secret got out and was tele-
graphed up the Pacific coast. The telegraph operators in San
Francisco spent the next two days and nights in sending and
receiving messages about the new diggings. Before Thursday
morning 6000 to 7000 men and youths were on their way by cars,
wagons, horses, coasting vessels and foot, to San Diego and Lower
California. The hardware stores in Los Angeles and San Diego,
and in every village for 100 miles around, sold every pickax,

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 431

shovel, tin dripping pan, wash dish and milk and bread pan they
had on hand to persons who equipped themselves for placer
mining and started in a day for the mines.

The boom had a short life and almost died a-borning. For a
week little was talked of in the California cities but the discovery
of gold in Baja, California, and the prospect of another edition
of the days of '49. Then, when the first victims of the fever
who had been down to the mines returned to San Diego, declar-
ing the stories of wealth there to be lies, and the excitement
only a manufactured imitation of the genuine article, the old
miners who had not time to get out shook their heads at the
other fellows and said, " I told you so."

Harqua Hala Diggings.

Thousands of people will never forget the rush for the Harqua
Hala diggings in the spring of 1892. The mines were found
in the Northwestern part of Arizona, close to the Colorado
River and the boundary lines between Arizona, California and
Nevada. For several months in the winter of 1891—92 there
came almost every week news of the big prospects that a half
dozen miners, who had been moving from one camp to another
in the territories, and in Mexico, for nearly a generation, had at
last come across at Harqua Hala. Along in March and April
quantities of gold dust and nuggets from the mines came into
the hands of bankers in San Bernardino and Los Angeles.

Newspapers published reports as to the prospects at Harqua
Hala, and in a week or two there was another general rush for
the diggings. The railroads did a land office business for several
weeks in carrying men as far as the Colorado River. From there
the travelers to Harqua Hala packed themselves on little river
steamboats at exorbitant rates of travel. Hundreds of miners
who had hardly a dollar tramped over the mountains 1 50 and

432 . GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

200 miles to the mines. And then they all tramped back again,
wiser and poorer.

And then there was Randsburg — that little cluster of claims
and grog shops that sprang into existence in the heart of a Cali-
fornia desert on the strength of bags of specimens flashed by a
few highly-imaginative prospectors. There is no denying there
is gold and a good deal of it in the vicinity of Randsburg — but
it is a good plan to stop the denying right there.

In a general way Randsburg was a forerunner of the Klondike
affair. As soon as the newspapers gave up their columns and
pages to stories and illustrations, everyone who could make or
scrape together the necessary sum to reach the mines got a
prospector's outfit and marched for Randsburg. Some stayed
there and some came back to civilization to tell of what they
didn't earn. Those who stayed, as a rule, went to work for the
syndicates that practically control the claims. If anyone is
making money out of these diggings, it is the syndicate in
charge. So far as the lone prospector is concerned, he is a dead
one. He may pan out enough to keep body and soul together
and lend strength to his thirst for conquest, but there he stops.

Randsburg and Klondike Contrasted.

Something else there is about Randsburg that may have a
bearing on the Alaskan fever. It is regarding the personality of
the army of prospectors. Frequently the characteristics of a few
daring individual spirits lend a color to an entire community.
The news of the Randsburg Eldorado had hardly been taken
from the ticker when the gambling clement, which had been
browsing about the State in an aimless sort of fashion, determined
to introduce the illusive, yet seductive, pea, monte, the wheel and
any number of other devices for the purpose of separating the
curious from their good money. In addition to all this, thcr<^

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 433

was a flourishing dance hall, roof garden, and all-around vaude-
ville show, so dear to the early novels of Bret Harte. The few
cents the sydicate didn't get away from the pick-and-shovel brig-
ade floated into the pockets of the " sure-thing " men before pay
day entered on its second childhood.

Randsburg and Klondike tales and events have much in com-
mon. The stories of the rivers, hills and valleys of gold have
already been told and set the blood of the imaginative tenderfoot
boiling. Horses, lots and even personal effects have been dis-
posed of on all sides at a great sacrifice for the purpose of ob-
taining the wherewithal to reach the Eldorado of the pole. Some
have already started on their perilous journey ; others are about
to hurl themselves into the Klondike maelstrom, and yet a third
class are still looking about them in search of an opportunity to
join hands with their brethren and one or two of the sisters who
are braving the tortures of a polar winter in the mad hunt for

fortune.

Some Tough Characters.

A number of the dispatches and all the statements issued by
the Alaska Commercial Company and other transportation con-
cerns have been to the effect that the people going north are all
good, square, honest and upright miners. They have said noth-
ing about the sure-thing men, the army of thugs, ex-prize
fighters and general disturbers who are turning heaven and earth
to reach the Klondike. Yet such is the actual state of affairs.
There is a brigade of muscular young men who have drifted to
the coast since the revival of pugilism. These fellows would
sooner go to jail than work at any honest trade or occupation.
It is almost an impossibility to get them to train for a go in their
dearly beloved prize ring. Yet there is nothing they won't do,
outside of work, to get hold of a piece of money. The sandbag
is their favorite method.
28

434 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

These gentlemen are all going to Alaska. On the surface
they are sincere in their claims that they are going to work.
And they will work if they can find the gold lying on the bank
of a babbling brook. The actual state of affairs in a nutshell is
this : These fellows will take any chance under the sun to get
money. They will stop at nothing. A man's life is no more to
them than a snowflake to a storm. If things come their way
they will, within certain limits, conduct themselves in accordance
with the law, but as soon as they see they are " up against it "
they will cast reserve and all scruples to the winds and begin
tearing things wide open.

Honesty Versus Starving Idleness.

Just think of the number of people who have already gone
and those who are determined to go to the Klondike who have
nothing more than the mere price of getting there ! Now you
can take it for granted that these men are, as a rule, good,
honest fellows, willing to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay
and take a chance of striking it rich on the side. But it is not
every man who can remain good, honest and square under cer-
tain conditions. These men have gone and are going to Alaska
under a delusion. They imagine they are going to get ;^ i 5 a
day whether school keeps or not. Naturally $1$ a day looks
like a great deal of money to men who have been making $2
and $$ a. day. And so it is. But you do not actually get the
$1$, or anything like a tenth part of it, for an average day's
work under the most favorable conditions in the Klondike. Of
course you maybe handed the $1$, or its equivalent, on the
completion of a day's labor, but how about the expense of living ?
If you get ;^ 1 5 a day for your work you may rest assured that
;^I4 of it will go for board and lodging, and as a rule you board
and lodge with the man or syndicate for whom you work.

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 435

Then there is another important factor to be taken into con-
sideration which has been given the general overlook in the
newspapers. A man does not and, in fact, cannot, even under
the most favorable conditions, work the entire year round. There
are months when you are compelled to remain indoors, rolled in
skin.«' if you are fortunate enough to have them, with nothing to
eat but a bit of dried bacon, providing you are sufficiently
wealthy to be able to afford this luxury. So you see a man who
is not his own boss runs an excellent chance of working a season
and winding up the year by being over head and heels in debt to
his employer.

The gold stories from Alaska are by no means new. Some
years ago there was a general exodus to the Yukon. The
small army who went northward at that time have not yet
returned laden down with yellow metal. A few fortunate ones
have come back with a fair return for their labor and a library
of romance that puts the professional writer of fiction to the
blush. But what has become of the 20CX) or 3000 who went up
at the same time and practically have not been heard of since ?
How about those private graveyards in the ice fields and the
unfortunates who will never return to tell the tale of hardship
and suffering that accompanies an Alaskan winter ?

In a way, the fever of '49 has a bearing on the fever of '97.
The pioneer days of California form a basis of comparisons and
enable those who will to draw conclusions.

Has Faith in Prospectors.

Hear the Argonaut Auditor Custer again :

" These Alaska prospectors are doing better than the '49ers
did. I notice that those who have gone to the front are telling
the truth and not sei»ding back exaggerated reports, or painting
the roseate pictures that the first of the California pioneers made

436 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

in the first flush of the western gold find. It was the false re-
ports made by some of the early California gold hunters that led
so many people unprepared into the western wilds, and filled the
great plains with the bones of unfortunate immigrants. The
people are now being warned of the hardships and privations
which await them in their quest for fortune, and of the means
with which they must be provided to overcome them.

" Our party made no money in California, and came back in a
year. Two thousand others did the same. Of course, thousands
made their pile, though tens of thousands were disappointed.
But that came from expecting too much. I don't think that will
be the case with the Alaska gold campaign. The boys who
have gone out first are apparently moderate in their statements,
and I believe it will prove a great place for hardy and adventur-
ous men to seek fortune and find it. The California gold fever
did much to open up and build up this country, and I believe the
Alaska gold fields will also be a great benefit to this country and
its people."

" Go to Alaska, Young Man."

President Addison Ballard felt like Mr. Custer, only more so.

** This Alaska gold discovery is great," he said. '* I don't be-
lieve there is any great exaggeration in the stories told. I am
not surprised at all at them, for I have always held that along
that vein of territory clear to the North Pole the earth is full of the
precious yellow metal, and not only of gold, but of silver, copper
and other metals of value. Why, if I was a young man to-day,
I would be off to Alaska just as quick as I could get my kit to-
gether. I wouldn't stay around this town one minute longer
than it would take me to get my tools and other necessaries in
shape for transportation."

Mr. Ballard's hair is white as befits a man who went " over-
land " forty-eight years ago, but his eye sparkled with the argo-

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 437

naut spirit, and he looked like a second Jason setting out for the
fleece as he spoke.

" I'll tell you that the man who loafs around here in Chicago
out of work, flat broke or toiling for starvation wages these
days is a pesky fool," he continued. " Of course, I would not
advise men in very poor circumstances and with large families
to take care of, to rush off there unprovided and expect to pick
the gold up in handfuls right off the face of the earth. We
didn't pick it up in nuggets out of the dust at our feet in Cali-
fornia. You don't get gold anywhere without you work for it,
and the gold hunters of Alaska, as well as those of California,
will have to dig for itif they are to get it. The men who go up
there in those regions after wealth and fortune could not do
better than to bear in mind the little ditty so often sung by the
California gold miner:

"They told us of the heaps of dust,

And the lumps so mighty big ;
But thev never said a single word

How hard it was to dig.

Easy to Get There.

" Now, what is the case with this Alaska business ? Why,
they have the railroad trains to carry them right to the very
foot hills where the precious metal lies concealed. They have a
country thoroughly explored, the geography of it thoroughly
understood and comparatively quick means of communication.
I tell you the pioneer of Alaska will be a featherbed pioneer
compared to the old forty-niner, when the history of both comes
to be told. And yet, if it was all to be done over again, not all
the dangers and discomforts of the * overland route,' the horrors
of the sea voyage and the ' weathering of the Horn,* the fever
of the Panama, the hunger and thirst of the desert would deter
me from starting once again.

438 GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS.

" No ; I wouldn't be deterred by any little hardships such as
they are talking about in connection with this Alaska business,
and while it can never confer the lasting benefits upon the coun-
try that the pioneers of California did, for it was the pioneer of
the diggings who opened up the far West and brought State after
State into the Union till it reached from ocean to ocean, the
Alaska gold find will, in my opinion, be a good thing for the
whole country and enrich great numbers of our citizens.
*' Ho for California,

That's the land for me ;
Away to Sacramento,

With my washbowl on my knee."

Fruit Belt Versus Arctic.

Yet it may be well to remember that in the days of the rush
to the gold fields of California, it was almost impossible to get
the worst of a venture to that part of the Pacific coast. Star-
vation was almost out of the question, save in the northern and
mountainous districts, and a comfortable bed could always be
found on the hillside of the land of eternal summer. There
were no huge ice and snow fields practically destitute of bird
and beast. On the contrary, there were streams full of fish,
anxious to be caught, and forests inhabited by flocks of birds
that have since acquired reputations for high prices in city eating
houses. Again, the argonauts of California and Nevada were
almost exclusively hard headed, painstaking and sober minded
men, who were willing to brave hardships and privations pro-
viding they ultimately obtained independence for their pains.

There are a great many people woefully ignorant of the true
condition of affairs in the Alaskan country. Even among the
enthusiasts will be found few, if any, who are conversant with
the subject in general, let alone in detail. The greater number
pf men who have already started for the Yukon, and the vast

GOLD CRAZES OF OTHER DAYS. 439

army who are ready to march forward at a moment's notice,
know nothing about the actual condition of affairs. For them
this book is published.

The Black Hills.

The rush to the Black Hills of Dakota differed from some
others in that the primary placers gave place quickly to lode
mining, and the perils from climate and human enemies were
minimized from the start. Gold was discovered in 1874 and the
great stampede to the diggings began to culminate in 1875. The
auriferous land was on an Indian reservation, and United States
soldiers protected the white trespassers and throttled the remon-
strant redskins until the United States government made a forced
purchase of the territory, and the miners thenceforward had
things their own way.

The ores of the Black Hills are refractory and it required much
capital to develop the mines. Mills began to spring up in 1876,
and to-day the Homestake Company controls 580 stamps in this
rich district. The total stamps running number 685.

CHAPTER XVI.
Side=Lights.

Oddities and Freaks of the Klondike Craze — To the Gold Fields via Baloon
— Bicycles for Argonauts — Swim or Slide — Fancy Stock in Dogs — Chop-
ping Wood to Pay Passage— Grub- stakers and " Angels" — Schemes of
Worn-out Prospectors — Clairvoyants as Gold-finders— Mining Stocks
and Sharpers — Magic in the Name — Barber's Syndicate — Sleuths to the
Yukon — Samples of Argonauts — Freaks of "Tenderfeet" — Bogus
Bureaus — Hard Work to Keep Gold — Gamblers and Miners — Type of a
Miner's Paper.

THOUGH there is a dark side to the Klondike craze, sil-
houetted in blasted hopes, physical misery, wrecked for-
tunes and even death, there is a humorous side as well,
rather grim at times and often having the comedy, trenching
perilously close on tragedy, but still pregnant with a realizing
sense of the grotesque, and apt to jar a smile out of the most
disagreeable situations. A siege of the gold fever offers un-
limited opportunity for the display of idiosyncracies, and what
passes for humor in new societies is most often only the discov-
ery of unexpected traits in the hap-hazard assemblage. The
experiences of a mining craze are prolific of the absurd and the
ridiculous, — ^the craze itself has a humorous phase in that it is a
craze, and the gay recklessness with which men chase golden
phantoms is only the absurd antithesis to the faith in human
gullibility with which schemers bait hooks for gumptionless
suckers and play and land their foolish prey.

The Klondike craze, both in and out of the diggings, has run
the gaunt of the jester's part. Sometimes in its brief duration it
has been a question who were the crazier, those who rushed to
the placers or those who stayed behind to laugh at the reckless
argonauts. Some of the queer features of the '97 fever are

440

SIDE-LIGHTS. 441

worth recording for the digest of human nature there is in them
— " What fools these mortals be ! "

A Kalamazoo man announced his intention of establishing a
balloon route to the Klondike. When the air was full of bor-
rowing stories of the awful perils of the passes and the " sure
death " which lurked in the maelstrom-like rapids and the bleak
and ice-locked marches of the river trail, he came to the rescue
with a rose-hued story of and air-ship he was building, which
would sail over anything, carry a ton of supplies and make the
trip to the gold fields and back in a fortnight. People wrote to
him from all over the nation to secure passage, offering ridicu-
lously large sums for even a "berth in the steerage." One
Illinois man (perhaps forgetting for a moment he lived in the
sucker State), sent a draft for ;^500 for a round trip ticket. To
the credit of the air-ship navigator, be it said, he returned the
draft to the sender.

The balloonist announced at the outset that he could take
only two men besides himself and that the party intended to stay
in the Klondike only long enough to locate two or three million-
dollar claims and then scud home to the celery town to spend
the winter. Like Orpheus C. Kerr's famous machine-gun which
would have killed a thousand men a minute if the crank would
have turned, there was only one defect in the Kalamazoo air-
ship— it would not sail, and the great trans-continental air-line

was never opened.

Bicycles for Argonauts.

Some New Yorkers figured out a scheme for taking their
party into the Klondike on bicycles. Every detail of the
machines was thoughtfully considered and worked out. So
successful was it considered the " bike " route was sure to be,
that a syndicate was formed to manufacture the special wheels
for the market, and the promoters declared the day of Indian

442 SIDE-LIGHTS.

packers, burros, dogs and reindeers was waned almost to sun-
set. The wheel was designed especially for use via the Chilkoot
Pass, though it was likely to prove as useful by any other land
route. The prospectus said :

" Every miner who goes to the gold fields must take with him
about looo pounds of supplies, and the only way to transport
them is for him to carry them on his back. The most that a
man can carry for any distance is 200 pounds. The method
now in vogue is to carry one load about five miles, hide it so that
it will not be destroyed by animals, and then go back for another
load. In this tedious way the goods are finally transported to
their destination.

Style of the Wheel.

" The Klondike bicycle is specially designed to carry freight,
and is in reality a four-wheeled vehicle and a bicycle combined.
It is built very strongly and weighs about fifty pounds. The
tires are of solid rubber one and a half inches in diameter. The
frame is the ordmary diamond, of steel tubing, built, however,
more for strength than appearance, and wound with rawhide,
shrunk on, to enable the miners to handle it with comfort in low
temperatures. From each side of the top bar two arms of steel
project, each arm carrying a smaller wheel, about fourteen inches
in diameter, which, when not in use, can be folded up inside the
diamond frame.

" Devices for packing large quantities of material are attached
to the handle bars and rear forks, and the machine, it is esti-
mated, will carry 500 pounds.

" The plan is to load it with half the miner's equipment, drag it
on four wheels ten miles or so. Then the rider will fold up the
side wheels, ride it back as a bicycle, and bring on the rest of
the load."

At last accounts no one had gone to Dawson City by bicycle.

SIDE-LIGHTS. 445

The s/ndicate had overlooked the one thing besides a good
wheel necessary to successful country riding — good roads.
General Coxey had never been to Alaska.

A sledge and boat company exploited a sectional steel vessel,
which was to serve the double purpose of water craft and land
conveyance. Oars and sails would propel it in the water, while
on land the argonauts would pull it along easily after a couple of
plates at the sides were let down so as to form a flat surface
under the keel. It was to be fitted with air chambers and burg-
lar-proof compartments for storing the precious gold dust. This
transportation scheme, needless to say, fell flat.

Stock in Dogs.

Hearing there was a scarcity of dogs in Alaska, a kennel
owner tried to organize a stock company to furnish a supply of
canine draft animals. The fact that such dogs as could be fur-
nished from the States would be valueless in Alaska, for sledge
drawing did not worry the brainy fancier at all, if, indeed, he
ever thought of it. But others thought of it, and the company
was never formed.

The North American Transportation and Trading Company
offered miners a way of getting into the Klondike, which beat
the balloon and "bike" and other easy modes of transportation,
though there was an arduous side to it which kept many from
taking advantage. The company needed wood in readiness for
its Yukon steamers, as soon as ice goes out in the spring and
navigation opens ; and it proposed to pay each passenger whom
it transported as far as Hamilton's Landing, four dollars a cord
for chopping wood during the eight winter months, the scene of
activity to be between the Landing and Fort Yukon. It was
estimated a good chopper could get up three cords of spruce or
hemlock a day in the Alaska climate, which would enable the

444 SIDE-LIGHTS.

prospector to reach the Klondike with a comfortable " stake " in
his pocket and his muscles seasoned for the hard labor of hunting
for " pay dirt."

Grub-stakers proved one of the most ample crops of the
craze. They sprung up everywhere, and all they wanted was
an '* angel." A grub-staker is a man who wants somebody to
stake him with grub, and " grub " is Klondike for beans, bacon
and tea. An "angel" is one who advances, loans, or in any
manner puts money in the hands of the grub-staker. The grub-
stakers were all willing to go to the Klondike and endure hard-
ships and face death and locate a million-and-a-half dollar gold
mine, if somebody would advance the money for the grub and
the transportation. Then the "angel," when the mine was
located, would reap the reward of his childlike trust and implicit
faith, for, by mining law, the " angel " receives one-half of all
the grub-staked one discovers.

Grub-stakers haunted railroad and steamship offices in the
great centres and in the ports of the coast, and offered every
man with money who could not go himself, a chance to go by
proxy, and, astonishing as it may seem, many an ''angel" let
go of his savings to send to the diggings a man without creden-
tials or residence, and whose very name was often suggestive of
the probability that neither man nor money would ever be heard
of again.

Schemes of Prospectors.

An Eastern argonaut, who was awaiting " steamer day " in
Seattle, wrote home of his experience with grub-stakers in these
words :

" Broken down prospectors, who have been unable to make a
strike in the West, offer their services in trying to find gold for
other people in Alaska. Few of them pretend to know anything
about the Yukon country, but they are all sanguine of being able

SIDE-LIGHTS. 445

to go direct to the right spot and unearth a valuable placer de-
posit. The only requisite is clothes, food and money, especially
the latter. Thus equipped these prospectors will go to the Klon-
dike and send back at once half the gold they find. Odd tales
are told about some of these fellows. If reports be true, some
of the grub-stake money finds its way at once into the till of
the nearest saloon, and the only prospecting done is that entailed
in a hunt for new innocents.

" Men who have just come back from the gold fields, as they
assert, offer bargains in the way of partnerships in claims. They
proudly exhibit bottles of gold dust in proof of the rich strikes
they have made, and then name prices which would be ridicu-
lously cheap for bona fide properties of the kind described. It
is pretty difficult to trace an Alaska claim at this distance from
its location, and there is no satisfactory way of establishing its
existence, dimensions, or worth. When the mining fever is on
a man, however, he overlooks such minor things as these, and
jumps in haste to close what he calls a good bargain. He
doesn't stop to consider the risk he is running, and goes away
to make room for another customer, who will buy the same claim
right over again. "

Clairvoyants on Deck.

Clairvoyants put in their bid to be recognized as factors in the
Klondike development. Something in the nature of a grub-stake
company was formed by a number of spiritualists in Chicago and
an advance agent or prospector sent out to locate the rich claims
which a well-known ** medium" professed to be able to discern
clairvoyantly across the vast intervening distance. Some of
these claims were said by the "spirit guides" to be fabulously
rich and all of them well worth the finding. Maps were drawn
and explicit directions given and a new field for " prospecting "
duly opened.

446 SIDE-LIGHTS.

Anything with the name ** Klondike " on it, especially if it was
mining stock, was a pretty sure seller after August ist. All that
was necessary was that the price should be cheap and terms easy.
Plenty of shrewd men took early advantage of this and some
printing presses were kept working overtime getting out the
prospectuses and certificates for these " mining companies."
How many were " bitten " by these sharpers and how many
hundreds of thousands of good money they absorbed will never
be known, but it is certain that a very small percentage of those
who invested in Alaska companies will ever see even the " first
annual report *' of the concern's announcing that they must be
revivified by a ten per cent, assessment or shut up shop.

Magic in " Klondike."

The magic word " Klondike " seemed to be ample indorse-
ment in the estimation of the general public for any kind of an
Alaskan proposition, no matter how wild or ridiculous its scope.
Railways running for hundreds of miles over wastes of ice and
snow were minutely laid out on paper and their earning capacity
soberly computed by men accredited with the possession of busi-
ness ability. Electric light plants were advocated for Dawson
City and similar mining towns. Development of the coal beds
as fuel for great central depots for piping heat to the gulches to
thaw the frozen gravel was seriously talked about. Had some
gold lunatic proposed the sawing of the Alaskan ice into railroad
ties or telegraph poles for use where timber was scarce, it would
have caused no more than a ripple of surprise, to judge from the
bare-brained schemes which really enlisted financial backing.
Everything was possible in Alaska, according to the promoters.
: One of the oddest things brought to light was an attempt to
organize a barber's syndicate to invade the upper Yukon country.
One winter's experience in the Arctic region satisfies nearly

SIDE-LIGHTS. 447

every man that it is safer and more comfortable to keep his face
free from hair. Moisture from the breath freezes mustache and
beard into cumbersome and dangerous chunks of ice in that cold
climate, and in trying to remove them pieces of frozen flesh are
liable to be torn off. Safety lies in clean-shaved faces. Many
men cannot shave themselves and many of those who can, have
no razors fit to use. The result is a demand for barbers.
Knowledge of this led one sanguine young shaver to broach the
idea of taking a party of brother workmen to the Klondike and
there was considerable enthusiasm over the scheme.

An amateur detective set seriously about organizing a stock
company to send himself and a corps of trained sleuths to the
Klondike, where he believed there is a rich gold mine in arrest-
ing many criminals for whose capture large rewards are offered.
He was morally certain Willie Tascott, and a lot of other badly
wanted men were there masquerading as miners under the Arctic
Circle. He regarded the scooping in of these men, and the
prize money appertaining to them, as a vastly easier and more
lucrative way of making a fortune than burning down to bed
rock through eighteen feet of frozen gravel. But the police

laughed at him.

Samples of Argonauts.

How little many would-be argonauts knew of the Klondike,
or anything connected with it, was illustrated in a New York
railroad ticket office. A well-dressed man pushed his way
through the crowd, and throwing a big roll of bills on the coun-
ter, cried out :

** Give me a first-class, and a lower berth."

'* Where to?"

"Klondike."

He was indignant when the ticket seller tried to explain that
sleepers were not run regularly over Chilkoot Pass.

448 SIDE-LIGHTS.

A man bought an ''outfit" at a Seattle store, and found his
bill was forty dollars over his funds.

" Never mind ; I'll pay you at Dawson," he said to the cash-
ier, and seemed dumbfounded when he learned the clerk was not
going to the Klondike.

All sorts of men wanted to do all sorts of things in the dig-
gings, beside dig for gold.

One man wanted to practice law at Dawson, or any other
place on the Yukon, and wanted the agent's advise as to the
size of library he had best take along. His feelings were hurt
when he was told a hot milk route would probably pay better.

Another advertised for parties to form a company to send a
stock of " ladies' and gents' " ready-made garments to the
Alaskan gold fields. The venture may be a success if the sup-
plies are limited to those for men, as " ladies " who are among
the best people of the Alaskan wilds, show a preference for
white bearskins and walrus oil overknit wear.

Women at the Camps.

Another season may change this, however, for there is a chance
that women with white skins of their own will be much in
evidence in the camps in 1898. Several promoters have already
arranged to establish matrimonial agencies in the Klondike.
One of them says :

" Thousands of poor but thoroughly respectable girls even in
this State are looking for honest employment, and would go to
Alaska to get it if they were assured they would be properly
cared for. In the towns and villages of New England the
number of women is so far in excess of the men and employ-
ment so hard to get that thousands would be willing to go to
Alaska under proper conditions. I propose to secure places in
advance for companies of, say, 100 girls, and have their

SIDE-LIGHTS. 449

employers advance money for their transportation from' the
States and recompense me for my trouble besides. No girls
will be accepted except such as can bring the highest recom-
mendations as to character and respectability. Arriving at the
gold district each one will be assigned to her place, but all will
be located within a short distance of each other, so that they may
have association and be able to counsel each other.. Under their
influence the camp would take on a homelike appearance, and
the miners would not feel that sense of isolation which sends so
many to their graves. They would be served with well-cooked
food, and the general health of the camp would be vastly
improved."

Bogus Employment Bureaus.

Employment bureaus to engage miners to work in the Klon-
dike made their appearance with the first signs of the craze.
Several of them flourished in the coast cities for some time, and
the proprietors accumulated quite a fund from gullible and impe-
cunious victims of the fever before the police swooped down and
arrested the sharpers.

Some of the miners coming back with a " pile " had as hard
a time to keep their gold from the sharpers as the tenderfeet had
to keep their greenbacks.

Shortly after the arrival of the last ship from Alaska at San
29

450 SIDE-LIGHTS.

Francisco a number of the Yukoners had a reunion at a private
hotel on California street hill. There was everything on hand
to make the function pleasant, and the evening passed rapidly.
Then there was an adjournment to a music hall on the edge of
the "tenderloin," and there was more of the wine, women and
song business. The Yukoners found that whisky at ten cents a
glass was a more potent liquor than they had met even at Forty-
Mile.

There was no limit to the orders, for the men were in for a
good time. Some of them, with considerable foresight, placed
their sacks in the safe of the saloon. When they did this they
had more confidence in the integrity of the strong box than in
their own capacity for liquids, but their confidence was misplaced,
according to reports. One of the party, who was at one time a
leader of the Yukon pioneers, deposited a sack containing ;^400 in
the safe. When he called for it he found that some one else had
broken into the safe and had taken one-half of the stuff that was
in the receptacle. One man lost, according to his statement,
;^2 14, and his companion about ;^ lOO. The party broke up about
the time the cars began to run in the morning, and when the
sacks were demanded there was a scene.

Accused of Robbery.

This was nothing, however, to what occurred the night follow-
ing the orgie. Those who lost their money met in the refreshment
room of the hotel in which they were staying, and each ac-
cused the other of being accessory to the robbery. Had it not
been for the intervention of several policemen, called by the
proprietor, there might have been several owners of rich claims
lying on the slabs of the morgue the next mormng.

Gamblers reaped a harvest in the coast cities as long as miners
were returning with their dust. Gaming was the only pastime

SIDE-LIGHTS. 451

at the diggings and it was easy for the card sharps to find and
fleece their victims among the home-coming argonauts. Play
had been relatively as high as fair on the Yukon and before the
pioneer discovered he was made a victim, he had generally been
well "plucked." The supply of these easily duped miners ran
out after a time, however, and then the professional gamblers
started for the fountain head at Dawson City. It speaks well
for the caliber of the '97ers that while many of the blackleg
fraternity undoubtedly got through the outposts, many more
were turned back on their journey to the mines with some short,
stern advice not to make another attempt to get in.

Type of a Miner's Paper.

One of the oddities of the craze was a little three column-
folio sheet purporting to be published at Dawson City, and which
gained much notoriety during its brief day of novelty. The
Klondike Morning Times may be taken with as many grains of
salt as the reader may see fit, but, as an antitype of frontier min-
ing journalism, it is worthy of the days of Bret Harte.

The editor seems to have started the paper, because he
needed money. This may be inferred from the subscription
price, which is announced without any attempt at extenuation as
^7.50 a single copy or ;^3 50,000 a year, payment to be made in
nickels, nuggets or stamps. Some concessions are made for
club orders, the editor offering 1,000,000 copies for ^^30,000.
The subscriber is advised to read the paper quickly, or he'll not
believe all there's in it.

The sensation of the day was a disturbance in the Dirty Dog
saloon the night before. The editor at once grasped the news
value of the story, recognizing its *' human interest" at a glance.
He played it under a " scare " head consisting of the expressive
monosyllable" Biff," followed by three-line pyramids and "cap"

452 SIDE-LIGHTS.

lines in which the various features of the story were striking!}'
indexed.

The story in vernacular is as follows :

" There was a hot time in the old town last night, as the fre-
quenters of the Dirty Dog saloon will testify.

" In the course of a quiet little poker game there was a clash
between Bonanza Bill, formerly of Circle City, and a half-breed
Indian known in the diggings as Chilkoot Charley.

" The stakes were large. Over ;^2,ooo,ooo in nuggets glit-
tered on the table when all played dropped out excepting Bill
and Charley.

" Charley finally weakened and called his antagonist.

" Bonanza Bill proudly displayed a pair of fours.

" ' No good,' said Charley, as he began to rake in the shining^
pot, ' I've got sevens.'

" ' Stop ! ' roared Bonanza, and with a quick movement he
seized the cards from Chilkoot Charley's hand.

" Charley had a pair of deuces only.

" Piqued at the idea of being played for a good thing by a
half-breed Indian, Bonanza Bill lost his temper and, seizing a
cast iron cuspidor, he brought it down upon Charley's head with
great emphasis. Skull and spit-box were both wrecked by the
force of the collision.

" The Indian was buried in a snowbank at the foot of Easy
Street at 2.30 A. m."

The prospects of the Dawson City and Elsewhere Railroad
are flatteringly exploited, and the enterprise and liberality of the
editor are revealed in a voting contest for the most popular faro
dealer, the winner to get a free trip to Juneau.

CHAPTER XVII.
Camp Life and Morals.

Mining Towns in the Alaskan Wilderness Similar to Other Rude Communi-
ties, with such Peculiarities as are Born of Climatic and Topographical
Features— All Have Their Social Amenities— The Bible and Shakespeare
Appeal to the Literary Tastes of the Fortune Seekers — Watching of
Property Early a Necessity — Sharpers Lose no Time in Getting in Their
Work — Gamblers also Flock Toward the Yukon to Intercept the Return-
ing Miners and Fleece Them — Whiskey Trade Flourishes in the Wilds.

THE mining camps of the Yukon Valley resemble the mining
camps of all other gold diggings the world over, with
such minor differences as are born of the characteristics
of the country. Their life is a rude life, a life of hardship, a life
of temporary expedients, and yet a \i(e. that has a bright side for
every dark side it presents. The Yukon valley is well worthy
of a Bret Harte to recount its pretty romances, its heroism, its
humble joys, its pathos and the strong traits of character it
develops or brings to notice.

Situated as the camps are, thousands of miles from civiliza-
tion, it would be strange did their life not present oddities and
striking features of exceptional interest to newcomers. There
is^ the absence of conveniences usually to be found in such place ;
the same tendency to recklessness and improvidence ; the same
summary execution of unwritten law ; and in fact everything
that tends to make a mining camp not a town, but a sort of a
halting place in the wilderness. There is a rough, wild, uneasy
appearance to the whole company, a something that says, " We
are here for a purpose, but we will get out of the diggings at no
distant date."

Still the life of the mining camps on the Yukon is not as rude or
as bad as might be supposed, partly from the fact that the
remoteness of the diggings for a long time kept away dangerous

453

454 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

and undesirable characters, and partly from the presence of
mounted police, who did their best to preserve law and order.

Dawson City, Circle City, Forty-Mile, Sixty-Mile and all the
older camps in the region for years after the miping of gold was
begun, maintained an enviable reputation, and after the discovery
of gold in the Klondike robbed the older camps of interest and
brought about a general exodus of the miners to the new
diggings the same characteristics were preserved. Hence, a
word descriptive of one of the older camps may be taken as
fairly true of all the camps in the region. Says a miner writing
from Dawson City :

Is a Moral Town.

" The principal sport with the mining men is found around the
gambling table. There they gather after nightfall and play until
late hours in the morning. They have some big games, too, it
sometimes costing as much as ;^50 to draw a card. A game of
. ;^2CX)0 as the stakes is an ordinary event. But with all that there
has not been any decided trouble. If a man is fussy and quar-
relsome he is quietly told to get out of the game, and that is the
end of it.

" Many people have an idea that Dawson City is completely
isolated, and can communicate with the outside world only once
every twelve months. That is a mistake. Circle City, only a
few miles away, has a mail once each month, and there we have
our mail addressed. It is true the cost is pretty high — a dollar
a letter and two dollars for paper — yet by that expenditure of

CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 455

money we are able to keep in direct communication with our
friends on the outside,

"In the way of public institutions our camp is at present with-
out any, but by the next season we will have a church, a music
hall, schoolhouse and hospital. The last institution will be under
the direct control of the Sisters of Mercy, who have already been
stationed for a long time at Circle City and Forty- Mile Camp."

Have Their Social Amenities.

It will be seen from this description that, remote from civiliza-
tion and virtually under the Arctic Circle as they are, the camps
are not without their social ameneties. Many an interesting
romance might be written from the experiences of those who
went to the Territory to seek their fortunes.

Amusing details are given of the way in which the men spend
the long nights of the Arctic winter. It must be remembered
that this means the greatest part of the year. Each claim ex-
tends only 500 feet up and down the streams — the 500 feet was
limited by the Dominion government early in August, 1 897, to
ICX) feet — and the tents or cabins of the miners are thus huddled
closely together.

The miners are thus neighbors in propinquity, and the good
fellowship which usually obtains in such communities make them
neighbors in every sense of the term. Along the Klondike and
in all the older camps the men resort to all sorts of games to
kill time, as they express it, and checkers and cards thus be-
come favorite pastime with the masses.

Then, too, remote as they are from current news and recent
publications, the men, in a sense, keep up their interest in the
world from which they are severed, and every odd book or old
newspaper about the diggings goes the rounds and is eagerly
perused by everybody. It is rather interesting to note that in

456 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

the mining circles the Bible and Shakespeare are the two books
most frequently to be seen.

Nearly every Klondiker on leaving Tacoma or Seattle is said
to provide himself with a copy of the Bible or a single- volume
copy of Shakespeare. About the middle of August it was
reported by the booksellers of Tacoma that there had been such
a demand for these two books that their supply had been entirely
exhausted and that they had been obliged to send east by wire
for a fresh supply to meet the wants of those who started late in
the season for the diggings.

• A single instance will serve to show the trend of taste in liter-
ary matters. One party of twelve prospectors and miners from
Missouri left Tacoma on August 14th and took as part of their
baggage eight copies of the Bible and twelve copies of Shakespeare.

Newspapers in Camp.

Robert Krook, an old miner in the Yukon valley, gives some
interesting information relative to the popularity of newspapers
and the general run of the camp life. Said he :

" No paper is too old to read. We read all the advertisements
and all the can labels. There was a supply of canned lobsters
at the camp and some man used to put up with the cans wrap-
pings of sheets from the Bible. We used to commit the chapters
to memory and see who could repeat them first without a mistake.

" The food is neither extra choice nor plentiful. But it is ex-
pensive. Bacon, ham and beans are the general rule — no
French wines or champagnes. The supplies are short at best
and a man must often take bacon that he would not throw to a
dog or go without. There is usually more whiskey and hard-
ware on hand than anything else. A man only needs a certain
amount of hardware, and the less whiskey he can get on with
the better he is off.

CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 457

" Sometimes a man has to watch his supplies pretty close,
and they usually build a * cache ' — that is, a little platform set
high up on light poles. He can then haul up his bacon and
' grub * and cover it with a tarpaulin. The risk of leaving the
* grub ' in the cabin is that the bears get at it. They will even
tear the roof off to get in, and there are plenty of the animals.
They won't climb the thin posts, particularly when the bark has
been peeled off.

" In regard to clothing, a man does not need much in summer,
and in winter he studies comfort, not looks. In winter we wear
moccasins, and in summer, while sluicing, gum l^oots. I have
not had leather on my feet since I left. Overalls cost ;^2.50 in
Klondike, and everything else in proportion, but it is a great
country to make money in."

Strict Discipline Among the Miners.

Mr. Krook rather insinuated en returning from a protracted
residence in the valley, that the discovery of gold on the Klon-
dike had rather tended to demoralize the people and give rise to
more or less unlawful proceedings. He said, though, that the
miners were quite competent to adjust all matters of difference,
and that, as a rule, it was woe betide the man who transgressed
the laws of the camp. Continuing he said :

" Until this spring the men never put locks on the doors of
the cabins, and nothing was stolen. You might go into any
cabin and see a glass or a tin or two on the shelf full of gold,
and no one would think of touching it. Anyone could steal if
he wanted to do so, but there were good reasons why they did
not. It was only after the mounted police arrived that locks
and bolts became a necessity. Before that there were what we
called * miners' laws.

" Forty or fifty of the miners would call a meeting, select a

458 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

chairman, and then if a man could make his own ' talk, ' he did

so, or he would get some one to make it for him. When both

sides of the case had been heard the chairman would call for a

vote. The decision was final.

" If a man gave trouble, he had to go. Now, they do not

have miners' laws any more. We had no trouble during three

years, became all questions were settled at these meeting of

miners. AV, disputes about claims were argued and adjudicated

in the same way."

Sharpers at Their Work.

As in all mining districts, where great fortunes are apt to be
made in a few days by a lucky hit, there was early on the Klon-
dike an element among the people who were unwilling to obey
either the statutes of the government or the unwritten laws of
the miners, men who apparently worried their brains to devise
schemes to get hold of claims, to evade rules and to gain pos-
session of as large a part of the miners' earnings as they could.
The miners, however, soon rose up against this element at the dig-
gings, as they had previously at Dawson City and the older
camps, and determined that, come what would, order should be
preserved at all hazards.

They pointed out with pride that there had been a vast dif-
ference between the camp life on the Yukon and the camp life
of the days of '49, the difference being in favor of the days of
'97. They made a crusade, as strenuously as possible, against
gambling and the sale of liquor. Of course, it could not be
expected that drinking and gaming could be entirely prevented.
But the miners, realizing their own best interests, did good work
in limiting the evil.

The United States statutes distinctly prohibit the importation
of liquor into Alaska for purposes other than for medicine, but
the law was ignored by those who recognized that there was a

CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 459

glorious opportunity for money making in pushing the liquor
traffic. Thousands of gallons of alcohol, whiskey and brandy
were landed almost every week at Dyea and other towns, from
which the stock was transported into the interior. A large share
of these goods found way directly to the Klondike.

Whiskey Came High.

The worst kind of whiskey found ready sale to the Indians at
three dollars per bottle, and in almost every bay or nook of
land where Indians lived, were sloops from which whiskey was
sold in abundance, alike to natives and white men. At Dyea
and Skaguay, as well as at Juneau, Wrangel, Sitka, and other
towns, many saloons were run wide open. By a curious contra-
diction the government issued internal revenue licenses, and at
the same time prohibited the importation and sale of liquors.

A word may be said of the ordinary hfe of one or two of the
older towns as being characteristic of the country outside of the
mining camps proper. Sitka, the capital of the Territory, is a
quaint old place that has never yet worn off the glamor of
romance and*mystery which has hung over it ever since the days of
Russian occupation. During the whole of 1897, however, the
pathos and tragedy of romance were entirely subordinated to the
wild and feverish frenzy after wealth which marked the year after
the find had been made on the Klondike, and the old town took
on a briskness and life that it had never known before.

Of course, Sitka is only an apology for a city, but it does
have many of the conveniences and comforts to be found in the
older States. Hence, the prospector or miner going to the Klon-
dike in a measure gets used gradually to the marked change from
civilization to the wilds. Henry Ellsworth Haydon has a word
to say about Sitka which is worth quoting in this connection.
Says he :

460 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

" Let me tell of the town as it appeared to me the winter of
my visit there, with the white Chilkat blanket of the snow spread
over its shoulders and trailing its fringes in the sea.

" Fancy a bracket fastened to the front of the mountains with
its outer edges washed by the estuary of the Pacific Ocean, ano'
on the bracket a number of frame buildings of all sorts and
sizes — perched like birds above high-water mark. On its eastern
side vast, towering, snow-crowned mountains rise mass on mass,
precipice above precipice, until their summits seem like the white,
tapering finger of a giant god, reaching upward to pluck dia-
mond stars from the ether of the winter skies.

Exposed to Wind and Storm.

** Northward, low lying hills stretching in endless companion-
ship toward ^the frozen ocean, and across their desolate solitudes
the wild winds of storms born in the Arctic blow their cold
breath out over the little city, as if they would fain freeze the in-
habitants and carry their congealed bodies into the sea. West-
ward, across Gastineau Channel, Douglas Island, with its famous
Treadwell mine, and Douglas City, and southward iengthwise ot
the bay one sees the trembling waters undulate along an ocean
horizon.

" Dwellers in cities beyond the eastern slope of the Rocky
Mountains, who read much and travel little, have formed queer
and mistaken ideas of the condition of society in places known
as the mining camps of isolated districts."

Juneau, from which so many thousands took their way to the
interior, is younger, sturdier and more enterprising than Sitka,
and may serve as a sort of transition from the life of Southern
Alaska to the bona fide camp life of the north. It is one of the
most cosmopolitan little places, or it was in 1 897, under the sun.

Men winter at Juneau who have wandered through Australian

CAMP LIFE AND MORALS. 461

forests, prospected Montana, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and
California ; been tossed about in whaling and sealing vessels on
the billowy waters of the Arctic seas ; trailed through Asiatic
deserts, hunted for diamonds in Africa, and among all sorts and
conditions of people have learned the creed of the wise and
the brave, to accept the present as the only living time, and await
with unspoken faith and hope whatever the future may bring
them.

They are pleasant to talk with, affable, courteous, intelligent,
being full of strange stories of camp and field, of quartz mines
near lonely cabins far up the mountains, and placer " diggins "
in populous places near to the sea, and all the wonderful romances
which are part of the adventurer's lot in whatsoever land his tent
may be pitched.

Many of these transient pioneers of the primeval solitudes of
sea and forest stay at Juneau until the April or May days come,
when they set out to cross the divide and launch themselves in
frail canoes or on crazy rafts, and go floating down the mountain
streams to the Yukon River. For the most part, one and all
have the same purpose. Those of the prospectors, or fortune
seekers, who have spirit and energy enough to bear up under
the trials they have to meet, make comparatively jolly parties,
and as a result life goes on noisily along the trails and in the
camps as in the older and better known towns that serve as a
threshold to the country.

Have a Rude Awakening.

When once the camps are reached, the real business of the
pilgrimage to the north begins, and many thousands realize
shortly that life at the camps is an entirely different matter than
they had anticipated. The common experience soon settles
down to a round of duties and efforts ; and the absence of all

462 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

that the fortune-seekers have been accustomed to, emphasize the
unpleasant features of the new Hfe.

There were not lacking, however, early in the days of the
gold-working enterprising people, who sought to make a good
thing out of the gold craze, not by mining, but by catering to
the pleasures of those who delved and washed for the precious
metal, primitive theatres were started at many of the camps.
Omer Maris speaks of one r)f these playhouses at Circle City and
says that it met a positive want among the people. Says he :

" The present conception of the popular taste in Alaska seems
to be that the public wants a strong show, and in the attempt to
meet the demand the managers cannot find anything up to the
standard in books and are driven to the point of inviting new
features. * The Man from Douglass Island' was an original
drama that was offered to the people of Juneau.

Barkeeper Charley.

"The title had local significance, as Douglass Island is just
across the channel from the town. It was a very successful
play. The hero was a barkeeeper named Charley, and the
heroine, to use the hero's own words, was a 'perfect lady,' who
had a desire to see something of the town with a fancy, rather
unusual in a person of that description, for incidentally * hit-
ting the pipe.'

" There was a bootblack, a Chinaman, an Irish policeman,
a dude and a number of sports and ' ladies ' in the piece.
After the requisite amount of adversity and bad luck had been
ground out, the hero, with the help of the bootblack, triumphed
over the dude, got a * pull ' with the policeman, married the
heroine and otherwise attained brilliant success as the proprietor
of the ' finest joint in the town,' to quote his own Uugaage
again."

CAMP I.IFE AND MORALS. 468

Those familiar with the scenes of revelry and riot in the
days of the Californian gold fever would look in vain, how-
ever, along the Yukon and the Klondike for anything similar
to the playhouses of '49.

In all the diggings there was, as might be expected, more or
less lawlessness that could not be suppressed either by the govern-
ment officials or by the better class of the miners themselves. It
early became necessary to take positive steps for the protection
of the miners and their claims. The Dominion Cabinet did
much to preserve order and prevent anything of an especially
flagrant kind.

A detachment of Canadian mounted police, twenty-five in
number, was stationed at Fort Cudahy, opposite Forty-Mile
post, and the owners of the mine there applied to Captain Con-
stantine, in command, for assistance in protecting their property.

A detachment of twelve men was called out at once and they
made the trip of seventy miles to the seat of the trouble in the
shortest time on record. They placed their arms and rations in
a canoe, put in two or three Indians with poles to guard against
rocks, and then the twelve men took a line and towed the danoe
the whole seventy miles.

It was expected that there would be trpuble in dispossessing
the claimants who caused the trouble, but the Yukon miners are
a law-abiding lot generally, and at the display of authority they
submitted and the owners of the mine were given possession.
As to the original question involved it was soon settled, as the
owners probably got their legal rights.

Dawson City sprang up like a mushroom and was one of the
most thriving of the mining towns until the discovery of gold
on the Klondike directed attention thither and caused a general
stampede to the new diggings. Edgar A. Mizner gi^-u u* a
little peep into the life of this town.

464 CAMP LIFE AND MORALS.

When he visited it Dawsdn had a population of about 4000.
This was just before the Klondike fever broke out and the men
hurried away as rapidly as their legs, or the river steamers, or
horses or dogs and sledges could carry them. Says he of this
camp :

"And such a town ! It has some of the characteristics of
mining camps that Bret Harte has made into story, but it has
qualities that California camps never had and never could have.
The game of life is played fast, and the boisterous side of mining
camps is developing as the population increases. Now Dawson
would match Tombstone when Tombstone was young. There
are gamblers by the score, and there are dance halls by the
score.

" The principal source of fighting in frontier mining camps, dis-
putes over the possession of claims, has been missing up to this
time from the Klondike region. The Canadian mining laws
seem fair, and they are regarded and are enforced as well as
possible by the small official force representing the Dominion
government. A section in the law prohibits a miner from
'taking up' more than one claim in a neighborhood. This pro-
vision of law leads to caution in the selection of claims, and
er^ops land grabbers from controlling all the claims in sight."

CHAPTER XVIII.

Domestic Life in the Wilds.

Miners' Experiences not those of a mere Romantic Sojourn in the Wilder-
ness— Absence of Conveniences and Comforts — The Older Towns Anti-
quated and, during the Gold Craze, Overcrowded — Graphic Pictures of
Skaguay, Dawson City, Circle City, and Camp Lake Linderman — Hotel
Project for the Territory that Promises to be the Means of Furnishing a
Larger Quota of Comforts— Women's Influence on the Domestic Life —
Some of Those Who Grace the Camps with their Presence, and the Par-
ticular Line of Work to which they Devote Themselves — Sisters of
Mercy for the Sick and Dying, and Sisters of Cookery for the Well.

THE domestic life of Alaska is not the domestic life of the
old, settled communities of the United States, and the
thousands who flocked to the North, when the Klondike
fever broke out, had a rude awakening from their dream of a
merely romantic sojourn in the wilderness. Nor did it require
an actual residence in the mining camps to force upon the fortune
seekers the fact that they were entering, not merely a new and
unknown country, but a new and unknown series of domestic
experiences.

Even the oldest of the Alaskan cities — Sitka — is but the veriest
excuse for a town, despite the fact that its history and its fame
date from the early days of the Russian occupation. Conse-
quently, the moment the prospectors and miners set foot on
Alaskan soil, they found a lack of the conveniences and comforts
to which they had been accustomed. These did not exist in the
city, and their absence was accentuated by the feverish rush and
turmoil that characterized the place.

It was literally a new era in the history of Sitka, as well as of
Juneau and the rest of the older towns of the territory. The
gold craze came in a moment, and there was no opportunity to
30 465

466 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

provide for the horde of people who wended their way toward
the diggings as soon as the news was received in the cities of the
South. Every available place in the old towns was filled with
newcomers, and on the outskirts of the cities there were little
suburbs of tents, which were pitched for the temporary accom-
modation of the people.

In the established mining camps like Dawson City, Circle City,
Sixty-Mile, and Forty-Mile, the state of affairs was not essen-
tially different for a time. Soon, however, there was a general
exodus from these towns, and then there were accommodations,
and to spare. In Klondike itself, as might be supposed, it was
for a long time a mere matter of the rudest huts, supplemented

by tents.

No Place for Style.

In this world of antiquated or temporary structures, or of no
structures at all, the domestic arrangements were cast upon just
such lines as one might look for in an unsettled country. As
the reader may have gleaned from the preceding pages, it was
no place for dress suits or train dresses, and those who went to
the gold fields soon learned that it was no place likewise for the
conventionalities of ordinary life. Here and there, to be sure,
was found some one who essayed to put on style. But these
" fops and frumps " were early taught that they had better cast
conventionality to the winds, and adopt the rude life, with its
hearty, whole-souled ways, which obtains in all mining localities.

A mere word about some of the towns will enable the reader
to form some idea of the '' home " life that necessarily prevailed
in them. Hal Hoffman, who went to Alaska on a special mis-
sion, early in August, 1897, wrote as follows of Skaguay :

" Skaguay is, at this date, a city of eleven frame or log houses,
a saw-mill, five stores, four saloons a crap game, a faro layout,
blacksmith shop, five restaurants, which are feeding people aU

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 467

the time, a tailor shop, on which is hung the sign * bloomers fitted
for shotguns ; ' a real estate office, two practicing physicians,
another professional pathfinder whose specialty is shown by the
sign painted on a board nailed to a tree, ' teeth extracted ; ' some
300 tents, and a population of about 2000 men and seventeen
women. Four of the women are accompanying their husbands
into the Klondike. The others are unchaperoned.

" A dance hall will be erected next week. Skaguay is already
a typical mining camp. Its population is proud of it. They go
further, and say it will be a ' hot town ' next winter. Streets
have been laid out. Broadway runs from high tide four miles
back to the mountain base, and is walled with tents, piles of sup-
plies, and felled trees. The gold-seekers never overlook an
opportunity to make fun drown their impatience.

" The event of to-day was a foot race for a purse of twenty-
five dollars, in which fifty men entered. Lanterns are flickering
like fireflies among the tents to-night. One turns his glance
with a shiver from the snow-topped mountains which, half a mile
from camp, point 4000 feet into the pale night overhead.

Unique Miners' Meeting.

" A miners* meeting stands without a parallel among things
unique. It was recently decided at such a meeting at Circle
City that a man cannot lick his own dog. What a miners' meet-
ing says goes. A teamster named Cleveland was run out of
town two days ago for refusing to haul a corpse free of charge.
It was the body of young Dwight B. Fowler, who fell into the
river and was drowned in the clear water in sight of his com-
panions, owing to the weight of the pack strapped to his back."

Another writer has the following to say of Dawson City about
the same time :

" There are several public resorts in Dawson — each with a bar

468 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

in front, gambling tables in the rear and a dancing floor in the
middle. Yukon has struck the typical early mining camp pace.
Faro and poker are the favorite means for parting with gold dust.
One hears of games with g20 ante and $$o to call blind. They
don't have money in circulation.

"There is no such thing as money. When you go in just
leave your sack at the bar and say, * Give me five hundred,' or
* Give me a thousand,' and get your chips," explained a Yukoner.
** Then if you lose you can call for what you want, and it's just
put down, and when you get through they just weigh out what
you owe. I have seen fellows go in with ;^ 50,000 they had
cleaned up and go out with an empty sack and go to work
again."

A Wretched Place.

Miss Anna Fulcomer, who lived for a year at Circle City before
seeking the Klondike fields with the rest of the fortune-hunters,
gives a rather graphic account of the town. Said she, in a letter
written to her sister in Chicago :

" This is a wretched place to be side-tracked in. A poor little
town with few houses, and those for the most part of bad con-
struction! Not the possibility of going anywhere and getting
out of sight of the little aggregation of buildings without going
out into the wilderness away from everybody and everything !
To do this requires not a little courage and energy. People here
are not primarily pleasure seekers. Those who have come here
have come for business, and this becomes manifest in everything,
from the way in which they put in their time to the way in which
they dress and deport themselves.

" There is no such thing as style. There is little visiting, ex-
cept to kill time when it is no longer possible to work. You
must not forget that this is the land of the midnight sun, and that it
is also the land of the midday moon. Consequently one gets

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 469

up, works, goes to bed, does everything cither by sunlight or by
moonlight, according to the season of the year, without the
natural phenomena that in southern latitudes accompany and lend
a certain character to the duties and pleasures of life. Every
thing seems turned about, and one scarcely has the inclination ,
even though he might have the opportunity, to do as they do in
the old States.

" What is more, there seems little prospect of any change in
domestic conditions for the better for many a long day. Even
though the mining interest keeps up, the influx of people to the
camps will probably be so largely in excess of the accommoda-
tions for them, and they will bring with them such a meager
supply of conveniences and con^forts, that the prospect is that
Dawson City and Circle City will continue to be Dawson City
and Circle City until capitalists, realizing the necessities of the
towns, will take steps to provide ampler and better accommoda-
tions than now exist."

At Camp Lake Linderman.

Of the camps proper William J. Jones gives a fair idea. Says
he of Camp Lake Linderman :

" From fifty to one hundred white tents, as many camp fires
and nearly 200 people constitutes the little colony of gold-seek-
ers who are camped here, building boats and awaiting an oppor-
tunity to sail down the river. It is remarkable to note the
difference in the personnel of the men. Only the better and
more substantial element is able to cope with the hardships and
reach this far. It would seem that the less perseve ing, or what
might more properly be termed the lazier classes, are to be found
scattered along the trail between Dyea and Sheep Camp, be-
moaning and bewailing the hardships they are undergoing.
They are having a picnic if they only realize that much, as com-

470 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

pared with what they will experience after passing Sheep Camp.
" There is one saloon at Lake Linderman, and it is doing a
thriving business in a tent. Without a license or other lawful
restriction and with the poorest quality of liquor, so diluted as to
be unrecognizable to the fastidious taste of experienced epicures,
the proprietor is coining money by selling drinks at 50 cents
each. A bottle of whiskey is worth ;^I5. As the Indians
arrive in from the coast with their packs and receive there
stipends, averaging about ;^30, they are inveigled into the saloon
and made drunk. A few drinks and a bottle of vile concoction
called whiskey, and they are '' broke." After sobering up they
are ready to "hit the trail " and get another pack. Some of the
nights are made wild and hideous with the orgies of these natives."

Hotel for Alaska.

Early in August, 1897, the North American Trading and
Transportation Company took the very step that Miss Fulcomer
advocated and perfected a plan for the transportation to Alaska
of a hotel which would accommodate about 500 people. It was
the plan to have the frame work sawed, finished, and put in such
shape as to be ready for erection as soon as the material could
be transported to the Territory. The decision once made, active
steps were taken toward carrying out the project.

The new hotel was designed for Fort Get There, on St.
Michael's Island. This was nothing but a trading post of the
company situated about a mile from the town of St. Michael's,
and only a hundred yards from the canal. At the time the en-
terprise was planned, and steps were taken to carry it out, there
were only about twenty white men and probably twice as many
Indians there. The plan of the hotel resembled a fort, being
square, with a court in the center and a tower on cither corner.
Speaking of the enterprise, Mr. P. B. Weare said at the time:

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 471

" A special train of ten cars will convey the hotel furnishings
and the steamer J. C. Barr, recently purchased at Toledo, to
Seattle, in time to catch the City of Cleveland, which sails
September loth. The J. C. Barr, which is now being taken
apart preparatory to shipment, is intended for use on the Yukon
River, and will make the fourth boat the company expects to
have in operation on the river at the opening of the spring
season.

" I do not know how soon we can carry out all our inten-
tions," continued Mr. Weare, "but we realize the fact that
domestic life in Alaska is in a large measure a matter of hardship
and privation, and we know that there ought to be ampler
accommodations provided for the people. It is not, in that cold
climate, as it was in California in the days of '49, for there, if the
miners had not houses, it did not entail suffering or danger to
camp out with nothing but the sky overhead and a blanket
wrapped around them.

" In Alaska one cannot put up with camp fires and such con-
veniences as can easily be carried about on a pack saddle. It is
often terribly cold and the miners, in order to survive and keep
themselves in fit condition to do their work, have to have good
protection from the inclemencies of the weather.

Accommodations Not Good.

" These, it need not be said, do not now exist. Of course, in
the old towns in Southeastern Alaska, there are a number of
places where strangers can get fairly good accommodations, but
these accommodations vanish as soon as one heads his way
toward the interior. The tramp over the mountains and through
the valleys, of course, must necessarily be one fraught with all
the dangers and inconveniences and hardships of a journey in
the wilderness. But at the present time even in the old mining

472 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

towns — you will understand I mean by old such places as Daw-
son City and Circle City — the existing condition of things is
such that one can scarcely speak of domestic life at all. It is
simply life without the domestic." •

Yet it was into this wilderness, devoid as it was of most of
the amenities of civilized life, that scores of women of educa-
tion and ^-efinement took their way, actuated by various motives.
Man was not to have the Klondike country to himself If there
were no sidewalks and boulevards, no boudoirs or parlors, the
women meant to go there and share with their husbands and
brothers and fatheis the strange experiences of the mining
camps. That the news of this exodus of women to the dig-
gings was cheering news to the miners, needs scarcely to be said.

Women Off for the Diggings.

In the middle of August, 1897, an announcement of the
intention of women to go to the North was made in the follow-
ing words :

" Woman's refining hand is to be laid on the camps at Dawson
City and other Arctic settlements. The home comforts of civil-
ization are to be introduced in a country in which they have
been hitherto sadly lacking. This winter will bring a radical
change in domestic and social conditions in that far-off part of
the world and enforced seclusion will be relieved of its greatest
terrors.

" Eight Illinois women have thus far announced their purpose
to make the pilgrimage to the gold fields of Alaska, and this
number is likely to be doubled before the last steamer of the
season sails from Seattle. Similar reports come from other
States, so there is a strong certainty that the Klondike district
is to have an agreeable and useful addition to its present
population.

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 473

** Some of these women are the wives of men now in Alaska
wresting wealth from the frozen earth — these go to make lighter
for their husbands the hardships of an Arctic winter. Others
will make the long and dangerous journey to dig gold for them-
selves, to make money by keeping boarders, by ministering with
needle and thread to the wants of helpless masculinity — and
even by running newspapers, in which the lucky strikes, the sad
failures, social doings, and all the breezy gossip of the camps
will be duly chronicled.

'' Then there are others — women of mercy — whose sole
object in braving Arctic perils is to care for the sick and
afflicted, to nurse back to life and strength the victims of acci-
dent or disease, and soothe the last moments of those who
receive the final summons to the great beyond.

Promise is Fulfilled.

The promise held forth to the miners of having woman's
influence in their rude life, was carried out with a fulness they
little anticipated. Mrs. Caroline Wescott Romney, a Chicago
woman, early expressed her determination to go to the Klondike
and pass the winter. It was not her intention to go on a plea-
sure jaunt, but strictly on a business venture, and on one well
calculated to make the camp life brighter and better. Her
main purpose was to start a newspaper at Dawson City, and she
decided to take with her a complete printing outfit, so that she
could issue a little sheet and -supply the mining community not
merely with news about local doings, but with reprinted matter,
which would serve to instruct and amuse the people.

Mrs. Romney had had a good deal of experience in a similar
line in Leadville and Durango in the boom days of Colorado.
She was a strong believer in mines and mining, and, having
worked with success in this line in Colorado, and also in Mexico,

474 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

she thought she could enter the Yukon valley and by her enter-
prise meet a decided want in the domestic life of the community.
Speaking of her project before she started, she said :

" Of one thing I am confident, there is gold in plenty in Alaska.
I believe there is a fortune for me, and I am going to get it or
know the cause of failure. What is more, I am not going to
work in the mines, but in the. camps and for the benefit of the
people. I do not think there is any occasion for the lawlessness
that has characterized almost every mining community on record.
That sort of thing springs up primarily from the absence of those
conveniences and comforts that in these days legitimate enter-
prise could easily supply."

Mrs. Gage's Enterprise.

Mention has been made elsewhere in this volume of the enter-
prise of Mrs. Eli S. Gage, who left her cozy home in Chicago
and went to the mining region to be with her husband and lend
what influence she could for the good of the camp life. She
left Chicago early in the fall of 1 897 and took her way to the
diggings by way of the Chilkoot Pass. According to the plans
of Mrs. Gage, as expressed before starting, she intended to keep
house in Northern Alaska, doing the cooking, washing and other
forms of housework herself

There are no trained servants or domestic help in the Terri-
tory, and consequently it is a practice of the miners to shift for
themselves the best way they can. It was Mrs. Gage's opinion,
which was also shared by the officers of the transportation com-
pany with which her husband is connected, that the presence of
herself and other women of good character would have a great
influence in brightening and making more agreeable the long
winters of the northern region.

Mrs. A. W. Little also left her Chicago home and followed the

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS. 475

example of Mrs. Gage. She went to Alaska well equipped for
a winter in which the cold often gets as low as 60 degrees below
zero. Before starting from her home she had an outfit of dogs
and sledges prepared and in waiting for her at Dyea, to transport
her over the snow-clad country to Dawson City.

Willing to Meet Danger.

Miss Pauline Kellogg, of Chicago, daughter of Judge Kellogg,
a pioneer miner of Colorado, and a woman well trained in mining
life, also went to the diggings in the fall of 1897. Early in her
life Miss Kellogg had lived in a Rocky Mountain cabin and had
become proficient in miners' work. She knew exactly what peo-
ple in a district like the Yukon valley had to experience, and
had a lively recollection of the hardships imposed by such do-
mestic life as one has to encounter in camp life.

"Danger!" said Miss Kellogg, before taking the train from
Chicago. " Of course there will be danger, but I have been all
through Colorado when that country was new, and I think I can
take care of myself in Alaska. I am not sure that I shall be
much of a success in the mining role, but I do think I can be of
a whole of service to the miners, and if I fail in one line I shall
hope to make it up in another."

Mrs. William Chase was one of the hundreds to brave the
perils of the new life to carry something of life and cheerfulness
into the miners' experiences. She left her Chicago home to
join her husband on the Yukon and help him and his associates.
She expressed a determination to keep house, to attend to the
cooking and other domestic duties herself, and so far as she
could, to teach and assist the miners and prospectors who had
no woman's hand to help them to do likewise.

" In this way," she said, " I can be of more use to them than
by digging in a pit like a man. What makes life in the Arctic

476 DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WILDS.

Circle so hard to bear, I am told, is the absence of home com-
forts. These I propose to furnish to as great an extent as possi-
ble, and it will be much better, even if I am not very successful,
than to have my husband up there alone. The miners I know
will welcome me."

Their Mission of Mercy.

Mention was briefly made elsewhere of the two Sisters of
Mercy who, in the early days of the gold craze started for the
North to minister to those who might need their assistance.
They started from San Francisco for St. Michael's Island, mean-
ing to push on to the interior by as rapid stages as possible.
Their avowed intention was to nurse the sick and solace the
dying in Northern Alaska. They were Sister Mary of the
Cross and Sister Mary Magdalene of the Sacred Heart.

In striking contrast to the heavy clothing and big outfits
of provisions and tools of gold-seekers were the simple black
habits of the sisters. They had no stores of groceries, no
supply of furlined garments, no equipment of tools. Two hand
satchels and a couple of trunks in the steamer's hold contained
all their worldly goods. When asked if they were not afraid
to venture into so cold and desolate a country with such a
scanty outfit. Sister Mary Magdalene said : " The Lord will
provide. We go to do his work and he will take care of us."
This simple statement had an impressive effect upon the passen-
gers and crew, and every man on the boat became a helpful ally
of the sisters.

Mrs. Bessie Thomas, of San Francisco, also early left for the
Klondike fields, but her mission was an entirely different one.
She did not go to care for the sick and solace the dying, but to
give the miners and prospectors good, wholesome dinners and
suppers and keep them well. In other words, Mrs. Thomas in-
tended to start a restaurant, and while primarily it was a busi-

DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE WiLDS. 477

11 CSS venture on her part, it was one that met a crying want of
the mining camps.

It can readily be understood that with a meager supply of
cooking utensils, and no skill in the art of cooking, the majority
of the miners and prospectors were in rather a bad way in the
matter of providing their meals. Mrs, Thomas was shrewd
enough to recognize this and take advantage of the opportunity
offered her. Further, there was a touch of real philanthropy in
her project. Before leaving San Francisco Mrs. Thomas said :

" Miners have got to eat and I think there is more money to
be made in feeding them than in slaving my life away here. I
have got to earn my own living, and I do not see why there
shouldn't be just as good a chance for me in a mining camp as
there is for a man. There is another side to this matter, too.
Here I just do my work for the pittance accorded me, and don't
know I am doing anybody any especial good or myself either.

" I do know that one of the most important things in a mining
community is for the men to have good, wholesome meals,
properly cooked and served. In the diggings, I am told, the
diet is almost exclusively one of fish and canned goods. A diet
of this sort becomes very monotonous, and if a few good, whole-
souled women would go up north and look after the culinary
end of the camp life, there would be a great sight more happi-
ness as well as a great deal less disease."

CHAPTER XIX.

Ethnography.

Census of Alaska — Russian Estimates of Population — Classification of the
Indians — History of the Thlinkets — Characteristics Suggestive of Asiatic
Origin — Savage Customs Largely Abandoned — Chilkats and their
Traits — Hootzanoos and "Hoochinoo" — The Sitkans and Stickines —
Among the Aleuts.

ONE of the most engrossing and perplexing problems of the
ethnologist is presented by the aboriginal native inhabitants
of the islands and mainland of Alaska. Many of them
present characteristics at variance with any prediction of ultimate
American origin. White people going into the country are apt
to regard the aborigines as a branch of the great race of North
American Indians, and that they are called Indians in common
parlance greatly favors this misconception ; but to the student,
most of them are absolute and distinct, with not a drop of Ameri-
can Indian blood in their veins, unless it has come from cross-
breeding with the red Indians further south.

The population of Alaska is classified as white, mixed-Indian,
Indian, Mongolian, and all others. Some figures as to its ex-
tent are interesting, as serving to correct many commonly held
mis-opinions on the subject.

Census of Alaska.

The United States Census of 1890 was the first organized
effort to get at the facts of the population of this great territory,
one-sixth the size of the nation of which it is a part. It showed
the total of inhabitants, living in 309 settlements, was 32,052,
of whom 4298 were white; 1823 mixed-Indian; 23,531 Indian;
and 2288 Mongolian. Of these the Greek Church claimed as

478

ETHNOGRAPHY. 479

converts 10,335, of whom 8414 were natives ; the Presbyterian,
1334, of whom 1260 were natives; and the Roman Catholic,
498, the natives numbering 131. This topic is more elaborately
treated in the chapter on " The Spread of Christianity."

The efforts of the Czar's officers to obtain a census were crude
and the results altogether valueless as statistics. Delarof's
estimate, made in 1792, gave 6510 natives to Kadiak Island
and the near mainland region. Baranof, in 1796, made the total
in the same area 6200, but he also reported a probable total of
5000 Thlinkets, unsubdued and not enumerated. Baron
Wrangel, in 1825, estimated the total population at 8481.
Veniaminof made three censuses : in 1831, of the Aleuts, whom
he numbered at 151 5 ; in 1835, of the Thlinkets, whom he esti-
mated at 5850 ; and in 1839, o^ the entire population, which he
placed at 39,813 ; a remarkably close result when it is under-
stood that nearly all the statistics of natives were the result of
what might be called scientific guess-work. In 1 860 the Holy
Synod made a census of the Christian population of both sexes
and fixed the total at 9845, exclusive of the Russian employes
of the company.

Classification of Indians.

General Halleck, U. S. A., made an estimate of the inhabi-
tants in 1868, which was extravagantly wild, even for guess-
work, the total being put at 82,400, or fully 50,000 too many,
as shown by the careful enumeration based on actual count in
the census of 1890.

Along linguistic lines the Indians of Alaska are divided in the
elements of stock and strength as follows :

Esquimeaux, inhabiting the coast from Copper River to the
northern extremity of the international boundary line.

Thlinkets, occupying the coast southeast of Copper River, and

460 ETHNOGRAPHY.

known variously as Chilkats, Auks, Takus, Hootzanoos (on
Admiralty Island), Sitkans and Tongass.

Aleuts, on the Aleutian Islands.

Athapascans (Tinnehs), living in the interior and known as
Kutchins and Ingaliks.

Tsimpseans (of foreign extraction) on Annette Island, princi-
pal type.

Skittagans, the Haydas of Prince of Wales Island, principal
type.

It will be best to examine these rather in the order of their
importance than of their strength.

The Thlinkets.

Thlinket, the name given to the people by themselves, means
'' the people " and indicates the esteem in which this once
powerful family was held by its savage tribesmen. These
aborigines are lighter colored than the North American Indian,
and in many more important particulars are radically different
from their red neighbors.

There are many separate tribes of Thlinkets and, as many
unreliable traditions of supernatural origin, a deluge and a sole
surviving couple. Their propitiation of evil spirits, their Sha-
manism, their belief in the transmigration of souls, their worship-
ful regard for the spirits and ashes of their ancestors, would
suggest an Asiatic origin. Their methods, tools and postures
are Japanese. Their totem poles are like those of the Maoris
rnd South Sea Islanders. Their sun and nature worship and
their legends of the Thunder Bird are Aztec. Totemism is the
base of their social organization, but the totem pole has no
religious significance, and is not an object of worship. Its pur-
pose seems to be purely heraldic.

A theory which would go far to explain the Asiatic charac-

ETHNOGRAPHY. 48\

teristics of the Thlinkets and other similar Alaskan peoples, and
which has found many advocates among scholars is based upon'
the action of the Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, which sweeps
around through the ocean from the shores of the Chrysan-
themum Empire and passing to the south of the Aleutian Islands
washes the northwestern coast of the American continent. It
has been conjectured that in some remote age Japanese junks
with their crews, which in ancient times were often composed of
men and women, were caught in terrific storms and partly
wrecked, so that return to the home port was impossible ; that
the disabled hulks, caught in the ever-flowing current, drifted
helplessly around the circuit of the North Pacific and were
finally, with the remnants of their ill-starred crews, cast upon
the shores of the Alaskan Archipelago. Granted that all this
came to pass, environment would easily account for the differ-
entiation from the parent Asiatic stock which marks the Alaskan
Indian of the days of history.

Famished Japanese Sailor.

This hypothesis of an Asiatic origin, fanciful as it may seem
in some ways, is not altogether without the support of facts.
Within the memory of living men a Japanese junk was cast
ashore near the mouth of the Columbia River, and from the
wreck was rescued the sole survivor of its crew, a famished and
sea-crazed Japanese sailor, who was able to relate before he died
the story of the awful storm, which drove himself and his com-
panions into the wilderness of the ocean on which he drifted for
eight months, his comrades dying one by one along that awful
unmarked trail through the billows. Perchance, the hardier
men of another age might have endured such a terrible voyage
with death and still survived with vigor enough to found a new
race in a new land.
81

482 ETHNOGRAPHY.

In many ways the Thlinkets strongly resemble the Japanese.
They have the same small hands and feet and their features are
much like those of the Mikado's people. Their babies are fat
and chubby, and were a Thlinket and a Japanese infant to be
dressed exactly alike and placed side by side it is likely none but
the mothers could tell certainly which was which merely by look-
ing. They resemble the Japanese, too, in not being robust and
in their extreme veneration for old age — wherein they differ much
from some whites.

Physically the Thlinkets are magnificent specimens from the
waist upwards. But they are pigeontoed and bowlegged and as
awkward as aquatic birds upon the land. This is their heritage
from generations of canoeing ancestors, whose warped postures
in their frail, rude boats have thus stamped a trait upon their
descendants.

IFJingular Customs of the Natives.

Though the Thlinkets are pretty well civilized, they still retain
traces of their ancient savage customs. Some of the oldest hags
still wear the laviette, a metal or wooden plug piercing the under
lip and supposed to enhance the beauty of the wearer. Tatoo-
ing, once almost universal, has nearly disappeared, but they all
paint for great dances and "potlatches," and in summer men and
women daub and blacken their faces as protection against the
insect pests. Polygamy and polyandry are now practically ex-
tinct, though both were formerly common. They are super-
stitious to a degree, and until Captain Merriman, U. S. N., whom
they called a great ** tyee " or king, because of his impartial and
successful administration of the government, broke the power of
the shamans, or medicine men, witchcraft and its attendant hor-
rors were common. Now a witch is never heard of.

Though strong, the Thlinkets are not a hardy people nor as a
rule long lived. Consumption is common and generally makes

ETHNOGRAPHY. 483

a speedy end of its victims. They are being fast thinned out by
disease and dissipation. The whites have proved a curse to
thr.m in both directions. They are great gamblers and a true
Thiinket will bet everything he owns, from his wives up. They
drink white man's rum when they can get it, which is not seldom,
and otherwise their own home-made " hoochinoo." And they go
on fearful sprees.

Slavery is another of the ancient customs which has been out-
grown. Prisoners of war were always made slaves, unless they
were butchered to make a Thiinket holiday in the days of the
nation's savagery, and their lot was of the hardest. One of the
least enjoyable portions of these slaves was to be killed at the
grave of the master, especially if the latter happened to have
been a chief Cannibalism, which was not uncommon among
the Indians at an early date, is also now happily a thing of the
past. Akin to this barbarity was the exposure of female infants,
but this abominable practice has also been abandoned.

How Great Events W^ere Celebrated.

The " patlatch " is an ancient and honorable custom which has
passed into innocuous desuetude with most of the Thlinkets.
Formerly every great event was celebrated with a "patlatch," and
as the festivity was an expensive one, requiring the utmost lavish-
ness in entertaining, not only in the distribution of meat and drink,
but of blankets and other presents, it sometimes made a man poor
to be rich. Now the ambition of these Indians seems to be to
live and dress aS much like the whites as possible. They retain
the barbarian's love for gaudy things, however, feathers being
their especial pride for decoration, and a Thiinket in full dress is
a gay sight indeed.

As a people they are brave in a relative sense — that is, they
can fight like demons when cornered, or when opposed to a

484 ETHNOGRAPHY.

weak enemy ; but are not overprone to pick quarrels with those
stronger than themselves. They are venturesome to reckless-
ness in their sea voyages, making trips in their small boats which
would daunt a white man in his larger craft. They have given
up war, but the old spirit still makes them among the hardiest
sailors of the Pacific. In manner they are dignified, but cour-
teous, and they are extremely hospitable. Withal they are great
sticklers in matters of ceremony, and a fancied slight has been
known to end in bloodshed. In their habits they are the oppo-
site of lazy, and nearly all the able-bodied men among the coast
residents now work in the salmon canneries or salteries, or pur-
sue hunting and fishing for gain. They have a decided taste to
get money, and some of them are exceedingly thrifty. Princess
Thom, one of their great characters, was a sort of Thlinket
Hetty Green, and literally had more wealth than she knew what
to do "^^ith, but still was insatiable for more.

Fondness for Display.

Though the native religion of the Thlinkets was a kind of
nature worship, or feeble polytheism, these Indians proved plastic
material in the hands of the missionaries, and most of the older
ones are now members of the Russian Greek Church. Their
great fondness for display is well gratified by the rich robes and
vestments, the candles and the pictures which enter so largely
into the service. Most of them speak Russian, and they are all
familiar with the trader's jargon known as '* Chinook." One of
the results of their religious training by the Rus^an Fathers has
been the abandonment of their ancient and almost universal
burial rite of cremation, the only exceptions to which were the
Shamans, or medicine men.

All the Thlinkets are divided into two clans, the Wolf and the
Raven. A man never marries into his own clan, and the

ETHNOGRAPHY. 485

children are always designated as of the mothers clan. Besides
the distinction of clans there are numerous tribes of Thlinkets.

The Chilkats and Chilkoots, who are really. one tribe, are the
great people of the Thlinkets. They have always been great
•traders and have possessed more wealth than any other tribe.
They were opposed to white trade with the Tinnehs, and for fifty
years stood as a barrier across the passage to the Yukon Basin,
playing the middleman with the Tinnehs in the fur trade. The
white men cheated the Chilkats, the Chilkats cheated the
Tinnehs. Whom the Tinnehs cheated, unless it was the animals
whose furs they took, is not of record. The Chilkats were good
warriors as well as thrifty traders until in 1892 the saloon
invaded their country and rum wrecked the once powerful tribe.

They are a more than commonly intellectual people. Their
chief "klohkutz" drew for Professor Davidson the first known
map of the famous Chilkat and Chilkoot passes. They long
knew the art of forging copper, and they possess in a high
degree the art of dyeing. Their elaborate dance robes, made
from antelope wool and gayly colored, have a considerable com-
mercial value as " Chilkat blankets." In their weaving they
display a skill little inferior to that which has made the Navajo
blanket famous. As wood carvers, also, they exhibit no mean
skill, as is evidenced by the decorations of their totem poles and
canoes. Their folk lore, myths and traditions exhibit a wonder-
ful poetic sense for so primitive a people and, indeed, this is true
in no less degree of the Haydas and Tsimpseans.

Dietary of the Chilkats.

One of the Chilkats' greatest delicacies is what is known as
the salmon berry, a fruit salmon-red in color and shaped like
blackberries. This fruit has a. musky and at the same time an
unpleasant flavor for white people, but the Chilkats call them

486 ETHNOGRAPHY.

their greatest relish. They eat large quantities of them in an oil,
the preparation of which, to say the least, is peculiar.

In making this oil the women gather up all the salmon heads
and bury them underneath the ground, where they leave them
for several days, until they become very odoriferous and " ripe.'i
Then they dig the fish heads up, place them in an old boat and
throw red-hot stones among them to try out the oil. After the
stones cool the Chilkat women get into the boat and squeeze
out the oil from the fish heads by tramping and stamping upon
them with their bare feet. The oil is then dipped up, and, being
poured over the salmon berries, makes — to the Chilkats — an
appetizing dish, which they partake of with great and evident
relish. It is not likely that any of the tenderfeet journeying up
into the gold diggings of the Klondike will stop at any Chilkat
public houses on the way for a dish of salmon berries dressed in
oil.

The Chilkats reckon their wealth in blankets, and a wealthy
man will often accumulate as many as looo blankets. To add
to their stock of blankets through life they would undergo any
hardship, in many cases actually starving themselves to add to
their accumulations.

Hootzanoos Make Hoochinoo.

The ordinary food eaten by the Chilkats is fresh or dried
salmon, but when hungry they will often consume large quanti-
ties of lard and other fat. A storekeeper of Juneau tells of one
able-bodied Chilkat who came into his store and purchased a
four quart tin of hog lard and cotton seed oil combined and ate
every drop of it before leaving the store.

The Hootzanoos at Killisnoo make an outright claim to having
come from over the sea. They first distilled ** hoochinoo," or
native rum, making it in old coal oil cans from a mash com-

ETHNOGRAPHY. 487

posed of molasses and yeast. They learned the trick from the
whites. They are the giants of the race.

The Hoonas, on the icy strait, a warlike tribe, have been long-
est preserved by environment from contact with the whites. Not
for that reason but because they deserved it they have always
had a bad name. In this respect, their brethren, the Auks, are
like them, though they are not a quarrelsome tribe. They live
along Douglas Channel.

The Sitkans as at present constituted contain many members
of decidedly mixed breed, descended from outcasts, renegades,
malcontents and wanderers. They are the farthest from the
pure blood of any of the tribes. Once the greatest term of
contempt in the Thlinket nation was : "As great a blockhead as
a Sitkan.*' Not until 182 1 were they permitted by the whites
to settle on the shore, and several times after that act of
clemency they repaid it by attacking the station. However,
they were generally quickly overcome. Rum and contact with
lawless whites have done much to destroy them. They are the
best dressed and most intellectual of the tribes.

Traits of the Stickines.

The Stickines who inhabit the valley of the Stickine River,
near its mouth, are a peaceable tribe at present, though they
have made trouble for the whites in the past within the latter
half of the century, having captured a trading vessel and mur-
dered the crew. They possess many of the traits of the other
' Columbian coast tribes, believe in the Thunder Bird as if to sug-
gest a southern origin, and are shrewd traders, and hard drinkers
and gamesters when they get a chance.

Kenaians is a name applied by the Indians to the natives
inhabiting the country north of Copper River and west of the
mountains, except the Esquimos and Aleuts. They are generally

488 ETHNOGRAPHY.

peaceful and well disposed, though ready to avenge affront or
wrong. They are good hunters and traders.

The Hay das (Skittagetans) were and are the flower of the
native races. They are taller, fairer, and with more regular
features than any of the other Columbian coast tribes, and
nearer to the Thlinkets in characteristics than to any other
people, but they are aliens to the Thlinkets, nevertheless, phy-
sically and mentally, in speech and customs. The Thlinkets
call them " Di-Kinyo," the people of the sea. They are the
northmen of the Pacific. Once, their forays extended as far
south as Puget Sound, and they seized a schooner in Seattle
Harbor and murdered the crew.

Old Traditions and Legends.

Their origin is the puzzle of ethnologists. They have a tradi-
tion of a deluge and a sole surviving raven from which their
people sprung. Some identify them as the descendants of the
Aztecs whom Cortez drove out of Mexico. Their legend of the
Thunder Bird is the same as that of the Aztecs and the Zunis.
They have images and relics similar to those found in Gaute-
malan ruins. But they have modern Apache words iii their
speech and dances and picture writing like the Zunis. Their
resemblance to the Japanese is also very marked, and as the
Japanese current touches directly on Queen Charlotte's shores,
junks may have been stranded there in the days when the Japanese
built sea-going junks and traveled afar. They have Japanese
words in their speech, they sit at their work and pull their tools
towards them like the Japanese. They are imitative, too, like the
Japanese. In many of their customs, their bark weaving and their
carving they resemble the Maoris of New Zealand and the South
Sea Islanders. They have carried the totem pole to its highest
development. Their folk lore is highly poetical.

ETHNOGRAPHY. 489

The Aleuts, or inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, have been
so mixed with Russians, Indian and Kamschadale stock that it
is difficult to find pure blooded men or women in the settlements,
The predominant features among them to-day are small, wide-
set dark eyes, broad and high cheek-bones, causing the jaw,
which is full and square to often appear peaked ; coarse, straight,
black hair ; small neatly-shaped feet and hands and brownish
yellow complexion. In many particulars they closely resemble
the Esquimo. Some few of the half-breeds are handsome physical
specimens of the human race. The average stature of the men
is five feet four or five inches, though some are over six feet.
They resemble the Konos of northern Japan.

The Aleuts, as a people, have been Christians for over a hun-
dred years and many of them read and write. They adopted
the Christian faith with very little opposition, willingly exchang-
ing their barbarous customs and wild superstitions for the agree-
able rites of the Greek Church and its refined myths and

legends.

Old Dwellings and New.

When first known to the whites they lived in large yourts or
" oolagha-moo," dirt houses, partly underground, going in and
out with the smoke through a hole in the top. One of these
ancient yourts, whose foundations were lately standing on Unalaska
Island, was eighty-seven yards long and forty wide. In these
dirt houses the primitive Aleuts dwelt by fifties and hundreds for
the double purpose of protection and warmth. To-day nearly
every Aleutian family has a hut or '^barabkie," or a neat frame
cottage, the latter owing to the Alaska Commercial Company in
most instances. The " barabkie," though built partly under-
ground, is a vast improvement over the yourt, has a window at
one end and a door at the other and is embellished within with
pictures of the church and patron saints. Here the Aleut spends

490 ETHNOGRAPHY.

most of his time, when not engaged in hunting, either drinking
cup after cup of boiling tea or stupefying himself with " quass,"
a native beer or with home-distilled rum.

The Aleuts are remarkably polite, not only to the whites but
to one another. The women are great gossips, despite the few
topics of conversation which they can have, and they visit freely
and pleasantly among themselves. It is only when under the
influence of liquor that they lose their amiability and show some-
thing of the old savage nature. They used to be great drunkards,
but the church is gradually weaning them from the disastrous

habit.

Heavy Burdens and Short Lives.

As parents they are extremely indulgent while their children
are under ten years of age, but after this time they become strict
disciplinarians and hard taskmasters, putting burdens upon young
shoulders that are heavy enough for adults and always exacting
implicit obedience. The infant mortality is excessive as a result
of the bad habits and sanitation of the people. The race is
short-lived, owing to utter disregard of the laws of health.
They are all more or less tainted with scrofula. They marry
young and without the least evidence of sentimentality. And
yet some of the women are decidedly pretty.

The men are sea-otter hunters, first, last and all the time, ex-
cept as necessity may force them temporarily to some other occu-
pation. In the chase they are bold and skillful and they venture
far out to sea in their skin "bidarkas " and kayaks with an in-
difference which forever secures them against competition by the
whites. The sufferings they undergo from cold and scanty food
while in the chase can be better imagined than described. They
haul their boats out of the water every night and bivouac along
the coast in biting gales, in rain, sleet and fog, without covering
and almost invariably without a fire.

CHAPTER XX.
Native Religion and Traits.

rhe Alaskan Indians a People of Curious Customs and Habits — Are Intelli-
gent, Inventive, and Imitative-^Are Adepts in the Vices of the White.
Men Who Visit Them — Are Natural-born Drunkards and Gamblers —
Totem Poles Their Pride in the Olden Times — The Significance of these
Barbaric Symbols of the People — Are Rich in Oral Traditions — The
Theological and Cosmological Belief of the Indians — Odd Notions of
the Aboriginal Thinkers — Samples of the Rites Practiced — Cannibalism
and Shamanism — I^aw and Home Life — Description of the Innuits of the
North.

THE Alaskan Indians are a unique people in a strange set-
ting. The visitor to the Territory will be surprised at their
manners, their speech, their looks and their customs, and
above all, at their intelligence. The Hon. Vincent Colyer, once
Special Indian Commissioner to Alaska, said in his report : " I
do not hesitate to say that if three-fourths of the Alaskan In-
dians were landed in New York, as coming from Europe, they
would be selected as among the most intelligent of the many
worthy immigrants who daily arrive at that point."

This may seem a rather unusual tribute to a people whom we
are accustomed to regard as mere savages. The words of Col-
yer, however, are not unduly eulogistic. There is a wide dis-
parity among the natives, of course ; but, from the extreme
southern point of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, these children of
the wilderness are characterized by a shrewdness and a cleverness
that, despite the traces of barbarism to be seen, differentiate them
in a marked degree from the other aboriginal inhabitants of America.

As was said in the chapter on ethnology, it is a grave ques-
tion among scientists whence the natives came, opinion differing in
a very marked degree. Some contend that they came from the

491

492 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

central portion of the continent, and others maintain that they are
of Mongolian origin. Be this as it may, the natives are there,
and they will of necessity be a curious study to all the people
from the Southern States who may visit the Territory. The
strangers in the country will find in the natives characteristics of
many races, and will see unmistakable indications of the shreds
of culture and education which they derived from the Russians.

Natives First Teachers.

The Russians, being the first occupants of the land, naturally
became the first teachers of the natives. These Indians are an
inventive and emphatically an imitative people. In this regard
they show a close resemblance to the Chinese and Japanese.
The natural aptitude of the people for following examples is well
illustrated by the exceptional skill they manifest in the matter of
weaving delicate fabrics, making graceful canoes and carving
their totem poles, those symbols of savage life which may be
found wherever a group of Indians have settled.

This aptitude for imitation is also shown by the way in which
the natives pick up the vices of the white settlers in the country.
As might be expected, the examples set them are often not of
the best, inasmuch as the class of people who go to a wild and
unsettled country like Alaska are apt not to be of the highest stamp.

The natives have thus thrust before them very often deplorable
practices and vices, which they pick up and follow as assiduously
as do their instructors. The road to wrong is thus made smooth
for them, and it is not strange, therefore, if those who now flock
to the gold diggings find the savages adepts in many of the
reprehensible practices commonly followed in more civilized com-
munities.

The Indians, for example, are ardent lovers of intoxicants.
The Russians, shortly after Bering crossed the Pacific with his

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. . 493

band of hardy adventurers, learned to make a cooling and com-
paratively harmless drink from rye meal mixed with water, which
they put in a cask and allowed to ferment. From this time this
drink was their luxury. But it was not a great while before
native ingenuity led them to mix in their beverage a little sugar,
flour, dried apples and hops, and the result was that they had an
intoxicating drink that would put the worst form of fire water to
the blush, so far as its effects were concerned.

Receive a New Tutor.

Then a discharged American soldier taught them how to distil
liquor, and native ingenuity again led them to manufacture their
own stills, which they made from kerosene cans, with the addi-
tion of the hollow stem of the seaweed. The art of making in-
toxicants they have never forgotten, and the prospector and
miner to-day will find the natives filling themselves up with these
drinks and running amuck, in which condition the crazy natives
are well fitted for any deeds of violence or viciousness.

Again, the Indians are inveterate gamblers, but whether they
learned this from their white instructors is a question. The
natives are as simple in the games of chance by which they
gamble away everything, from their wives to their dinners, as
they are in their domestic arrangements and their habits.

The favorite game is played with a number of small sticks, which
are cut of different sizes and colored different tints. These are
named crab, whale, duck, otter, fox and the like. They are
shuffled up and then placed under bunches of moss, and the
game consists in guessing under what pile of moss the whale,
or duck or what not may be. This, it will be seen, is literally
a children's game, yet it is for the natives a serious matter,
for very often on a guess a savage will lose home, possessions,
everything.

494 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

The natives of Alaska fall into various families, but for the
purpose of setting forth their most striking customs and character-
istics, they may be divided into two great divisions, the Thlinkets,
or people of Southern Alaska, and the Innuits, or people who
live in the extreme northern regions. The Innuits, by the way,
are not infrequently called Esquimaux. The minor divisions oi
each of these great classes present few differences. There is,
however, a very sharp contrast between the two great classes
themselves.

Forests of Totem Poles.

Wherever one finds a Thlinket settlement, he will find ^
forest of totem poles. The significance of these poles has often
been made a matter of question, but it is commonly believed
now that the poles have no religious significance, and are not
objects of idolatrous worship. They are rather to be considered
as a sort of heraldic designs, distinguishing families, very much
in the same way that the herandic devices of the nobility of
Europe distinguish families.

Totemism becomes thus, the base of the natives social organ
ization, and the totem pole becomes nothing more or less than
a tribal mark distinguishing the dwellings and belongings of
separate families or clans.

It is interesting to note that only animal totems occur. The na-
tives thus practically live under the guardianship of some one or
other of the wild beasts or the birds or the fishes that abound
in the Territory. The crow or raven represents woman, the
creative principal. The wolf represents the aggressive or fight-
ing creature. These two forms of totem are the most prevalent
along the coast.

That these totem poles are simply a family designation, as
was said above, is borne out by the fact that men do not marry
women of their own totem. * The Thlinkets were not slow in

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAirS. 495

making totem poles representative of the two great nations with
which they had most to do, Great Britain and the United States.
They fashioned one totem with a unicorn, and it stood for
" King George men ; " and they made another with a spread
eagle, and had that designate the ** Boston men," an ingenuous
tribute, perhaps, to Boston as the hub of the universe.

Some Indian families thus live under the special protection of
the bear, the whale, the frog, the wolf; and it is an easy matter
to recognize the family by the rude conventionalized carvings to
be found before their doors. Some of these poles are very
elaborately carved from top to bottom, often reaching fifty or
sixty feet in height and being three or four feet in diameter.

Rich Oral Mythology.

Centreing largely about these poles, the natives have an oral
mythology, which is often of the most fabulous character. These
legends are religiously handed down from father to son and are
rehearsed to the visitors with all the semblance of conviction on
the part of the narrators. Li!ce many other things characteristic
of the Indian's life and belief, these totem poles are largely
becoming relics of the past and symbols merely of what used
to be. This is due partly to the work of the missionaries and
partly to the natives' intercourse in a commercial way with the
white man.

In the early days the Indians were devout believers in witch-
craft, evil spirits, and all that sort of superstitious invention, and
many were the horrors that they committed in obedience to this
form of religious belief. Out of this grew various kinds of tor-
ture, and not infrequently, the poor savages would die under the
efforts of their friends to remove them from the influence of
imaginary demons.

Dr. Dall, one of the closest studeilts of the Alaskan Indians,

496 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

gives a very good account of the religious beliefs of the Thlin-
kets. Says he :

" Their religion is a feeble polytheisrn. Yehl is the maker of
wood and waters, he put the sun, moon and stars in their places.
He lives in the East, near the head-waters of the Maas River.
He makes himself known in the east wind, Ssankheth, and his
abode in Nasshak-Yehl.

Men Groped in Darkness.

" There was a time when men groped in the dark in search of
the world. At that time a Thlinket lived who had a wife and
sister. He loved the former so much that he did not permit her
to work. Eight little red birds, called kun, were always around
her. One day she spoke to a stranger. The little birds flew
and told the jealous husband, who prepared to make a box to
shut his wife up. He killed all his sister's children because they
looked at his wife.

** Weeping, the mother went to the seashore. A whale saw
her and asked the cause of her grief, and when informed, told
her to swallow a small stone from the beach and drink some sea
water. In eight months she had a child, whom she hid from
her brother. This son was Yehl.

"At that time the sun, moon and stars, were kept by a rich
chief in separate boxes, which be allowed no one to touch. Yehl,
by strategy, secured and opened these boxes, so that the moon
and stars shone in the sky. When the sun box was opened, the
people, astonished at the unwonted glare, ran off into the moun-
tains, woods and even into the water, becoming animals or fish.
He also provided fire and water. Having arranged everything
for the comfort of the Thlinkets, he disappeared where neither
.nan or spirit can penetrate.

" There are an immense itumber of minor spirits called Yekh.

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 497

Each Shaman has his own familiar spirits to do his bidding, and
others on whom he may call in certain emergencies. These
spirits are divided into three classes — Khiyekh, the upper ones ;
Takhi-Yekh, land spirits ; and Tekih-Yekh, sea spirits. The first
are the spirits of the brave killed in war, and dwell in the North.
Hence a great display of Northern Lights is looked upon as an
omen of war.

Responsibility of Mourners.

" The second and third are the spirits of those who died in the
common way, and who dwell in Takhan-Khov. The ease with
which these latter reach their appointed place is dependent on
the conduct of their relations in mourning for them. In addition
to these spirits, every one has his Yekh, who is always with him,
except in cases when the man becomes exceedingly bad, when
the Yekh leaves him.

" These spirits only permit themselves to be conjured by the
sound of a drum or rattle. The last is usually made in the
shape of a bird, hollow, and filled with small stones. These are
u.sed at all festivities and whenever the spirits are wanted." ,

As might be expected from this form of religious belief, a large
share of the attention of the worshippers is given to propitiating
evil spirits, and the religion of the natives of southern Alaska
thus practically resolves itself into a form of devil worship.
This, doubtless, is the origin of Shamanism, which really consists
in making offerings to evil spirits in order to prevent them from
doing mischief to the people.

The religion of the Indians, therefore, has a certain similarity
to that of the old Tartar race before the gospel of Buddha was
introduced. Indeed, forms of belief, very similar to those just
given above, may still be found among some of the peoples in
Siberia.

The one whose duty it is particularly to propitiate the evil
82

498 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

spirits is the great medicine man, or sorcerer, or Shaman of the
tribe. He, it is supposed, has control not only of the spirits, but,
through the spirits, of diseases, and of the elements. Dr. Dall
points out the fact that the honor and respect in which a Shaman
is held depends upon the number of spirits supposed to be under
his control. It is curious to note that whale's blubber, one of
the greatest delicacies among the Indians of the North, was put
under ban by a Shaman. To this day it is regarded with abhor-
ence by the Thlinkets in the South.

It can readily be seen that the Shaman is virtually a ruler
among his people and that by prostitution of his power he can
make himself a terror. Bancroft, in his " Native Races on the
Pacific Coast," thus speaks of Shamanism :

** Thick, black clouds, portents of evil, hang threateningly
over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the
flowing river. In the rustling branches of the trees are heard
the breathing of the gods. Goblins dance in the vaporing
twilight, and demons howl in the darkness. All these beings
are hostile to man and must be propitiated by gifts and prayers
and sacrifices, and the religious worship of some of the tribes
includes practices which are frightful in their atrocity. Here,
for example, is a right of sorcery as practised among the
Haidahs, one of the northern nations.

Sample Religious Rite.

" When the salmon season is over and the provisions of winter
have been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The
chief, who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to
possess little authority save for his connection with the preter-
human powers, goes off to the loneliest and wildest retreat he
knows of or can discover in the mountains or forest, and half
starves himself there for some weeks, till he is worked up to a

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 499

frenzy of religious insanity At last the inspired demoniac

returns to his village naked, save a bearskin or a ragged blanket,
with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder bark about
his neck.

" He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and
swallows one or more mouthfuls of the man's living flesh,
wherever he can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and
another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor
from his sudden and half masticated surfeit of flesh. For some
days after this he lies in a kind of coma, like an ' overgorged
beast of prey,' as Dunn says ; the same observing that * his breath
during that time is like an exhalation from the grave.' The
victims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the Taamish ;
on the contrary they are sometimes willing to offer themselves
for the ordeal, and are always proud of their scars."

The Indians are thus held in abject fear of the Shamans, and
it is possibly due to this fact that the missionaries of the Christian
church were so cordially welcomed and their ministrations and
teachings so gratefully received. In a large measure these old
beliefs of the natives are passing away.

Witchcraft Still Exists.

Still, Miner W. Bruce assures us that despite the efforts of
missionaries and teachers, and the influence of civilization,
witchcraft is believed in still to a greater or less extent. Evil
spirits, he says, are still believed to take possession of the old,
the decrepit and the deformed, and sometimes also of the young.
These supposed unfortunates then have to be exorcised, and it
becomes a matter of duty on the part of the Shamans to dis-
possess them of their tormentors.

One of the curious things that will be noticed by the traveled
in Alaska, is the natives* method of disposing of the dead

500 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

Many years ago cremation was generally practiced along the
whole coast. This, however, has fallen into abeyance, except
among those tribes who have not yet been visited by missionary
influences. Wherever the influence of the Christian church has
been felt the natives have adopted a modified form of disposal
of the dead, based on our common custom.

The dead are usually placed in boxes, but as these boxes are
not long enough to permit the whole body to recline at full
length, the joints are severed so that the corpse may be placed
in a sitting posture. Then the box is put away in some more or
less remote place and usually kept above ground. There is a
little bit of sentiment attached to the practice of the savages of
placing their dead on some high point so that the departed spirit
can look out upon the plains and valleys which were his former
haunts.

Often, also, some of the personal effects of the deceased are
placed beside him in the box. The Shamans, or medicine men,
it must be remembered, are never cremated. Their bodies lie in
state for four days, one day in each corner of the building. Then
the corpse is conveyed to the dead house, placed in an upright
position, and surrounded with all the blankets and paraphernalia
that the Indian's idea of comfort suggests as necessary for the
spirit land. It is a common practice of the people to dispose of
the bodies of witches and slaves with the greatest secrecy.

Cannibalism was Prevalent.

It should be mentioned here that directly connected with and
growing out of Shamanism is one of the most horrible of cus-
toms or practices, namely, cannibalism. This was commonly
practiced by the whole people on the death of the chief, and the
members of the tribe would enter with zest upon their horrid
repast. Frequently, too, on the death of a chief a number of

NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS. 501

slaves were sacrificed that they might accompany their lord to
the hereafter. The bodies of these slaves, it is supposed, were
cooked and eaten.

Within the days of the American occupation of the land,
medicine men have been known to devour portions of corpses
under the belief that they would thus acquire control of the
spirit and gain influence over demons. Happily, however, these
enormities are growing fewer and fewer, and it is not improbable
that at an early day, under the influence of Christian teaching,
the superstitious rites and abominable practices of the savages
will entirely disappear.

War dances and religious dances are also features of the In-
dian's life. Dr. Sheldon Jackson describes one he witnessed at
Fort Wrangel in 1879. Says he :

"One afternoon we were invited to the house of Toy-a-att, a
leading chief and Christian, to witness a representation of some
of their national customs. When everything was prepared,
dressed in a hunting shirt, with face blackened and spear in hand,
Toy-a-att appeared in the war dance. Retiring amid much ap-
plause, he reappeared in the form of a wolf and with mask, roll-
ing eyes and snapping teeth, gave the dance of the invocation of
the spirits for successful hunting.

" Then he put on a horrible mask to represent the devil, and
with hideous rattles, gave the devil or Tamanamus dance. Then
with dress and mask and large hat, with tinkling bells on the rim,
and eider-down in the crown, which down he showered around the
room as blessings upon his guests, and rattles in his hands, he
gave us the religious dance of the Shamans, or medicine men.
After the series of national dances, he came out and made a
speech, apologizing for the feebleness of his representations."

A word more specifically about the Shamans. When they are
ill their relatives are expected to fast in order to promote his

502 NATIVE RELIGION AND TRAITS.

recovery. Their commands are absolute law. Every Shaman
has any amount of paraphernalia, which includes a large assort-
ment of masks — one for every spirit or demon over which he
is supposed to have any power. The Shaman's hair is never cut.
As was said above, on death his body is never burned or buried,
but is put in a wooden box on four high posts.

Attending the funeral are certain performances, which begin at
sunset. and last till sunrise. Those who participate assemble in
the Shaman's lodge and unite in a song, to which time is beaten
on a drum. Then follows a form of religious dance, which in a
measure includes or suggests all the ceremonies known to the
art of Shamanism.

By these ceremonies, it is believed, the different spirits repre-
sented by the Shaman's various masks are all for the moment
inspired.

Turning from these weird rites and superstitious beliefs, it is a
pleasure to note that very many of the natives are clever arti-
sans, if not artists. Their totem poles, as has been said, are often
very skilfully carved. Arrow heads, spear heads, and silver and
copper ornament likewise go to show that the natives are not
destitute of artistic taste. The baskets of the Indians are also of
ingenious design and coloring. These are made from grasses
and roots.

The women do the weaving, and often the blankets they make
are very beautiful in design and workmanship. The women sit
day after day at their rude hand looms, and not infrequently it
takes six months for an industrious workwoman to make a
single blanket. The visitor to Alaska, however, is very apt to
be imposed upon, as a large percentage of the blankets that are
offered for sale, and said to be of genuine Indian make, are
spurious. The real article, Mr. Bruce says, is now becoming
very scarce.

CHAPTER XXL
Spread of the Christian Faith.

Empress Catherine Takes the Initiative in Bringing a Purer Religion to the
Savages — Work of the Early Russian Missionaries and the Progress of
Their Work — Schools Early Established — Introduction of the Lutheran
Church Due to the Efforts of Commercial Bodies to Provide for Their
Employes — Sad Result of the Transfer of the Territory to the United
States — Deed Interest Shown By the Natives — Some Striking Literature
from the Wilds — Methodists Follow the Presbyterians in Their Missions
— Great Hope for the Future.

THE cross has been planted in the wilds of Alaska for over
a century ; and, strange to say, the Empress Catherine of
Russia personally took the steps necessary to carry a
purer religion into the barbaric rites and superstitious practices
of the savages.

It was on June 30, 1793, that Catherine issued an Imperial
order that missionaries should be sent to her American colonies.
That order was obeyed immediately, as autocratic mandates are,
and eleven monks set sail as soon as their equipment could be
provided from Ochotsk for Kadiak Island.

This little band of Christian workers was in charge of Archi-
mandrite Joasaph, elder in the order of Augustin friars. In
1796 Joasaph was made bishop and returned to Russia to
receive consecration. That year was signalized by the erection
of the first church in Alaska.

The newly-consecrated bishop and the missionaries coming
with him were shipwrecked and lost on the return trip in 1 799.
All save one. This solitary monk remained alone in the Rus-
sian colonies for eleven years before another soul was sent
to assist him in his work. Then, in 1822, three more priests
were sent, who reached the colonies safely.

503

604 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

The one man, however, of all others, who did most to spread
Christianity in Alaska during the days of the Russian occupa-
tion was Innocentius Veniaminoff. He began his labors at
Unalaska in 1823. For seventeen years he worked as an ordi-
nary priest, and then he was made bishop. Step by step he
advanced from one position to another until he became Metro-
polite of Moscow, which is the highest position in the Greek
Church. He died in the spring of 1879, and, it is safe to say,
was sincerely mourned, not merely by his countrymen, but by
the savages, among whom he had worked in Alaska, and to
whom he had brought the blessings of civilized life.

What is more, he was the one Russian priest sent to Alaska
who left an untarnished name in that country, and who evinced
anything like the true missionary spirit. As a result of his exer-
tions, the Russian Church at one time had seven missionary dis-
tricts in Alaska, with eleven priests and sixteen deacons. In the
year 1869 the Russian Church in Alaska claimed a membership

of 12,140.

Helped by Fur Company.

It is one of the bright spots on the records of the Russian
Fur Company that it contributed annually $6600 to the support
of the missions. The sum of $2^1^ was annually received from
the Mission Fund of the Holy Synod, and ;^iioo for the sup-
port of the work was received from the sale of candles in the
church. The balance came from private individuals.

There was no opportunity for ostentation and display, and
consequently the church work was conducted as economically
as efficiently. The result was that in i860 the church had a
balance or surplus of ;^3 7,000, which was loaned out at five per
cent, interest.

In evidence of the practical side of this early missionary work
one may point out the fact that a school system was sooti

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 505

developed in the wilderness. The first school was established

by Shelikoff on the Island of Kadiak. Three things alone were

taught — language, arithmetic and religion. This was about the

year 1 792, and it was not a great many years thereafter that a

similar school was established at Sitka. In 1841 an ecclesiastical

school was opened in Sitka, and in 1 845 this was made a regular

seminary.

Object of the Schools.

Established as they were, under religious auspices, these
schools • were all of a parochial nature and their main object
was to further the spread of the Greek Church. In i860 we find
a colonial school opened, with twelve students, which two years
later had gained twenty-seven students.

Even in those far off districts and virtually among savages it
is pleasing to find the first steps taken in a movement which has
only of recent years become popular in civilized communities,
namely, the education of women. In 1839 ^ girls' school was
established in the wild regions of Alaska, which, in a certain
sense, was also an orphans' home. It was patronized largely
by children of the employes of the Fur Company.

Separate schools for the natives were also established, one
being opened in 1825 on Unalaska Island. A similar school at
Amlia Island had thirty in i860. As far north as the lower
Yukon, school-houses were also built.

The suspension of all these schools followed almost immedi-
ately upon the occupation of the country by the United States
Government.

During' the Russian domination the Russian-American Fur
Company employed many Swedes, Finlanders and Germans,
and to this fact is due the introduction of the Lutheran faith in
Alaska. A" church was built in Sitka in 1845, which was still
running in 185 2 under the charge of the first Lutheran minister

506 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

sent to Sitka to provide for the population indicated. He was
succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Wintec, who preached in the Swed-
ish and German languages. Mr. Wintec remained until 1867,
when the Russian Government withdrew his support, and he
returned to Europe.

During the life of this early Lutheran Church, however, the
work was done as carefully and as economically as by the
Greek Church, and the denomination soon accumulated many
thousand dollars in church property. It should be observed
that the Protestant Churches of Russia, while allowed no self-
governing and self-sustaining organizations, are still recognized
under the Ministerium of Public Instruction. Provision is made
for their support, which comes direct from the public treasury.

Decline of Church Work.

It seems" that when, in 1867, the great Territory of Alaska
became part of the dominion of the United States it was to fall
away from God's providence. At least, for many years nothing
was done either to preserve or extend the work that had already
been done. This in spite of the fact that when the purchase
was made by Secretary Seward the matter of evangelizing the
savages was discussed by almost every church organization
throughout the country. Says the Rev. Sheldon Jackson :

'' It was expected that the churches of the United States, with
their purer religion and greater consecration, would send in more
efficient agencies than Russia had done. But ten years rolled
around and the churches did nothing. Ten years passed and
hundreds of immortal souls, who had never so much as heard
that there was a Savior, were hurried to judgment from a
Christian land. Ten years came and went and thousands were
left to grow up in ignorance and superstition, and form habits
that will keep them away from the Gospel, if it is ever offered them."

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, 507

The Indians themselves, however, had experienced something
of the blessings which the Greek Church had brought them and
noticed with regret that their brethren in the districts where
formerly the Russian priests ministered were retrograding.

So, in the spring of 1876, Clah, Su-gah-na-te, Ta-lik, John
Ryan, Lewis Ween, Andrew Moss, Peter Pollard, George Pem-
berton and James Ross, all Tsimpsean Indians, went from Fort
Simpson to Fort Wrangel to obtain work. Here they secured a
contract to cut wood for the government, and here on the Sab-
bath it was their practice to meet together for worship, as in the
old days before Alaska became a portion of the United States.

This little band of devoted Indians is responsible for the
re-birth of Christianity in the Territory. Its members found a
warm friend and protector in Captain S. P. Jocelyn, of the
United States Infantry, who was then in command at that station.
He took a hand in the movement, secured a room for worship
on the Sabbath, and helped the Indians in every possible way.

All this in face of the futile efforts being made in the United
States. It may be interesting to note some of the projects in
the old settled States that came to naught.

Some Apathetic Projects.

The Rev. Dr. Saunders, of the Board of Domestic Missions
of the Presbyterian Church, offered a resolution soon after the
purchase of the Territory that a band of missionaries be sent by
the church to Alaska. A similar proposition was made to the
Committee on Home Missions of the same church. From 1 869
to 1877 the Rev. George H. Atkinson repeatedly agitated the
question of sending missionaries to the Territory.

These efforts in the Presbyterian Church were backed up by
Major-General O. O. Howard, of the United States Army, and
the Hon. Vincent Colyer, Secretary of the Board of Indian

508

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Commissioners. This last friend of the Indians even succeeded
in getting Congress to appropriate ;^ 50,000 for educational pur-
poses in the Territory, but no one was found willing to go to the
wilds of the North and administer the fund, and so it was not used.
In 1875 and 1876, however, the Rev. Sheldon Jackson, accom-
panied by Mrs. A. R. McFarland, went to the Territory and

MISSIONARY AMONG THE ALASKA INDIANS.

renewed the work for the Presbyterian denomination. The
missionaries met at various houses, in vacant stores, and even in
the huts of the natives, and held religious services, and especially
lent their aid in support of the little band of Indians mentioned
above, and in 1879 there was such interest in Christian work in
the districts they visited that services of a revival nature were
frequently held and were largely attended by the Indians.

It is curious to notice how quickly and sincerely the savages

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 509

took to the new life and its literature. Dr. Jackson gives a list
of some inscriptions he copied from an Indian cemetery, where
once were found, as indications of religious belief, nothing but
the totem poles of the savages. Among these inscriptions were
the following :

** His end was peace." " There is hope in his death." "Jesus
pity me." ** Take my hand and lead me to the Father." " I have
been poor in the world and wicked, but all is over now." "Take
me home to God." "Said to his father, trust in God." "He
departed trusting in Jesus." " Of such is the kingdom of
Heaven." " His last act was to sing a hymn and offer a prayer
to God."

Still more interesting and significant is the following creed or
statement of belief, or religious compact, which the Indians drew
up and signed :

1. " We concur in the action of Mr. I. C. Dennis, Deputy Col-
lector of the United States Custom House, appointing Toy-a-att,
Moses, Matthew and Sam to search all canoes and stop the traffic
of liquor among the Indians.

2. " We, who profess to be Christians, promise with God's
help to strive as much as possible to live at peace with each
other, to have no fighting, no quarreling, no tale-bearing among us.
These things are all sinful and should not exist among Christians.

3. " Any troubles that may arise among the brethren, between
husbands and wives, or if any man leaves his wife, these brethren,
Toy-a-att, Moses, Matthew, Aaron and Lot, have authority to
settle the troubles and decide what the punishment shall be, and
if fines are imposed, how much the fines shall be.

4. " The authority of these brethren is binding upon all, and
no person is to resist or interfere with them, as they are ap-
pointed by Mr. Dennis and Mrs. McFarland.

5. " To all the above we subscribe our names."

510 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

These little incidents sjiow that the natives were ripe for good
Christian work, and those who had the courage to brave the
dangers and hardships of the North in the interests of the
church sent home the most favorable reports as to their reception
and the most heartfelt regrets that the great Christian church of
the United States should be so dilatory and apathetic in its mis-
sion work in the Territory.

And it must not be supposed that these children of Nature
were slow of understanding or lacking in natural gifts. We
quote, as an example of Indian eloquence and Indian earnestness,
the following, which was reported in the Port Townsend Weekly
Argus. The speaker was Chief Yoy-a-att, whose name occurs
in the religious compact given above :

" The white man's God we knew not o^ Nature evinced to
us that there was a great first cause. Beyond that all was blank.
Our god was created by us, that is, we selected animals and
birds, the images of which we revered as gods.

" Natural instincts taught us to supply our wants from that
which we beheld around us. If we wanted food, the waters
gave us fish ; and if we wanted raiment, the wild animals of the
woods gave us skins, which we converted to our use. Imple-
ments of warfare and tools to work with we constructed rudely
from stone and wood. Fire we discovered by friction.

Change in the Dream.

" In the course of time a change came over the spirit of our
dreams. We became aware of the fact that we were not the only
beings in the shape of man that inhabited this earth. White men
appeared before us on the surface of the great waters in large
ships, which we called canoes.

" Each day the white man becomes more perfect in the arts
and sciences, while the Indian is at a standstill. Why is this ?

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 5V

Is it because the God you have told us of is a white God, and
that you, being of his color, have been favored by him ? My
brothers, look at our skin. We are dark. We are not your
color ; hence you call us Indians. Is this the reason that we are
ignorant ? Is this the cause of our not knowing our Creator ?

We ask of our father at Washington that we be recognized as
a people, inasmuch as he recognizes all other Indians in other
portions of the United States. We ask that we be civilized,
Christianized and educated. Give us a chance, and we will soon
show to the world that we can become peaceable citizens and
good Christians."

In view of this direct appeal from the Indians themselves it is
rather lamentable that the Christian Church of the United States
for more than a decade not merely allowed all the work done by
the Russians to lapse, but even brooked the introduction of evil
practices and evil ways among the Indians. It must not be for-
gotten that these savages were apt scholars not less in the vices
of civilization than in its virtues.

Took Naturally to Whisky.

In illustration of this it may be said that early in the days of
the American occupation the savages learned to distil whisky,
calling their rudely made stills hoo-chi-noo. The natives made
the whisky by distillation from molasses and their stills were
veiy simple affairs. They consisted of two discarded kerosene
oil cans and the long, hollow root of the sea weed for a pipe.
The still took its name from the tribe that first manufactured it.
The tutor of the savages in the art of making whisky was a dis-
charged soldier.

From 1877, when Dr. Jackson and Mrs. McFarland began the
work of the Presbyterian missions of Alaska at Fort Wrangel,
interest never died out. Steps were taken in the United States to

612 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

render assistance and the little band of Indians who joined together
in Christian work before the missionaries' arrival were their con-
stant helpers. Communication was had as often as possible with
interested people in the South, and soon these fearless workers
for Christ had the satisfaction of knowing that, in a large
measure, wherever their efforts were directed, they had put an
end to witchcraft, and to many of the grosser practices of the
Indians, and had thus brought better hopes, better manners and
better morals among the natives.

Methodists Begin Work.

About the same time that this movement was inaugurated by
the Presbyterian denomination, a similar movement was started
by the Methodist Church. Dr. Jackson pays a tribute of appre-
ciation to three men, whom he deems remarkable workers in the
cause of religion in Alaska. These are the Rev. Innocentius
Veniamimoff, of the Greek Church, who, commencing as a hum-
ble priest in Alaska, was made Bishop and then Primate of the
Greek Church of all Russia ; Mr. William Duncan, of the Church
Missionary Society of London, who built up the model Indian
village of Metlahkatlah ; and the Rev. Thomas Crosby, mission-
ary of the Methodist Church of Canada at Fort Simpson, on the
edge of Alaska.

It was in February of 1 862 that Mr. Crosby left his old parish
for work among the Indians in the Territory. He began by teach-
ing an Indian school at Nanaimo in 1863, and in 1867 he took a
circuit extending up and down the coast among the Indians for
180 miles, and up the Fraser River to Yale. Two years later
he inaugurated a regular system of typical revival meetings
among the natives, and hundreds of the Flathead Indians became
interested and professed conversion. *

Mr. Crosby had several efficient allies. Among these was a

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 513

Mrs. Dix, who was a full-blooded Indian woman, the daughter
of a great chief, and a chieftaness in her own right. When a child
she was frequently taken up a great river in a canoe and taught
to worship a large mountain peak. Her mother's god, Dr.
Crosby says, was a fish. Desiring to learn something of the
white man's God, the Indian girl began to attend religious services
in Victoria, following it up systematically for seven years. But,
as she afterwards stated, she found no light or comfort.

A New Recruit.

In 1 868 a great medicine man named Amos, who, in his in-
cantations, had torn in pieces with his teeth and eaten dead
bodies, commenced attending the Methodist Church. Amos be-
came one of the first converts and soon a class leader. Through
him Mrs. Dix became a disciple of Christ, and later on an ardent
worker for the betterment of her people.

Another instance of Indian conversion may be given as a
sample of the interest the natives took in the efforts made to in-
struct them in Christian life. An old, grey-haired, blind Indian,
hundred of miles away, heard of the work being done by the
Methodist missionaries, and took his grandson and started for
the coast. They paddled many a lonely mile in their canoe, and
many were the suns that set upon their bleak evening camp.

When near the coast, it is related, they were met by a Christian.
The blind man was ever repeating to himself as he groped along :
"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." The atten-
tion of the Christian was arrested and his interests awakened.
He stopped the little party and got from the old man the story
of his wanderings. Then the Indian was directed to a mission
station and went on his way rejoicing. He, too, during his life,
and his grandson after him, were energetic and enthusiastic as-
sistants of the missionaries.
33

514 SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

Under Methodist auspices schools of various kinds have been
successfully established. A day school in winter was soon run-
ning, which had 1 20 pupils, and it is not too much to say that
the little band of energetic spirits who gathered about Mr. Crosby
joon reached whole tribes and led them steadily, even though
slowly, to a hig'icr form of civilization.

Under the influence of Christianity the Indians began to aban-
don their large houses, which were the common abode of several
families, and build separate houses for each family. Within two
years from the time the work began sixty such dwellings had
been erected by Indian mechanics, and the old houses, that had
been scenes of so much depravity and corruption, were fast dis-
appearing, with other remnants of the Indian's old life.

No apology is offered for the insertion of the following simple
but touching native address, which tells much of the spirit of
the Indians and the earnestness w ith which they welcomed the
new life that was brought to them :

** We, the chiefs and people of the Naas, welcome you from
our hearts on your safe arrival here, to begin in earnest the
mission work you promised us last spring.

Hope for the Young.

" Our past life has been bad, very bad. We have been so
long left in darkness that we fear you will not be able to do
much for our old people, but for our young ones we have great
hopes. We wish from our hearts to have our young men,
women and children read and write, so that they may understand
the duties they owe to their Creator and to each other.

" You will find great difficulties in the way of such work, but
great changes cannot be expected in one day. You must not
get discouraged by a little trouble, and we tell you again th' 1
we will all help you a< nuch as we can.

SPREAD OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. 515

" We believe this work to be of God. We have prayed, as
you told us, and now we think that God has heard our prayers,
and sent you to us ; and it seems to us like the day breaking in
on our darkness, and we think that before long the great Sun
will shine upon us and give us more light.

" We hope to see the white men that settle among us set us
good example, as they have had the light so long, they know
what is right and what is wrong. We hope they will assist us
to do good that we may become better and better every day by
following their example.

" We again welcome you from our hearts, and hope that the
mission here will be like a great rock never to be moved or
washed away. And in order to do this, we will pray to the Great
Spirit that His blessing may rest upon this mission and upon
us all.

** (Signed) Chief of the Mountains

and six other Chiefs."

CHAPTER XXII.
British Columbia and Northwest Territory.

Region is One of Vast Extent and Diversified P'eatures— Has a Magnificent
Ocean Frontage— A Land of Great Rivers which Afford Internal High-
ways—G^reatest of All is the Columbia— Has a Large Ocean Trade Even
Now— Experiments in Fruit Growing Successful— Construction of Rail-
ways Has Given an Impetus to Development — Many Districts Famous
for Their Grain and Others for Their Mineral Deposits — Gold Mines in
Abundance — Klondike Within the Canadian Territory — Some of the
Mines Now Worked — Silver Not Wanting.

THE vast stretch of British territory lying immediately adja-
cent to Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory,
properly calls for a description in the present work, since it
contains many of the most valuable gold fields about which there
was such excitement in the year 1897. The Klondike district, it
will be remembered, is at least thirty-five miles within the real or
alleged boundary between Canada and the United States.

British Columbia is the most westerly province of Canada, ex-
tending from the 49th parallel on the south to the 60th degree
of north latitude, and from the summit of the Rocky Mountains
westward to the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver Island and Queen's
Charlotte's Islands being included within its bounds. The Pro-
vince contains the immense area of 383,000 square miles. It is
a diversified country of immense mountain ranges, fertile valleys,
splendid forests and magnificent waterways.

The position of British Columbia on the north Pacific Ocean,
bearing a somewhat similar relation to the larger portions of the
American continent that Great Britain does to ELurope for the
trade of the world, makes it one of the most important and valu-

516

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 517

able provinces of the Dominion, both commercially and politically.

The Province has a magnificent ocean frontage of looo miles.
This coast line abounds in harbors, sounds, islands and navigable
inlets. Principal among these harbors are English Bay and Coal
Harbor, at the entrance to Burrard Inlet, a few mibs north of
the Eraser River. Vancouver is the terminus of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, and is situated between these harbors. Vic-
toria, on Vancouver Island, also has a magnificent outer harbor
at which all the ocean liners dock, and an inner harbor for
vessels drawing up to eighteen feet. It has also another harbor
at Esquinalt, three miles to the southeast.

This latter harbor is about two miles long and nearly two
miles broad in the widest part. It has an average depth of six
to eight fathoms and thus affords an excellent anchor for vessels.
The Canadian government has built here a dry dock with a
length of 450 feet and a width of ninety feet, which will accom-
modate vessels of the largest size.

Magnificent Rivers.

Like Alaska, British Columbia and Northwest Territory have
some magnificent rivers, principal among which are the Eraser,
the Columbia, the Thompson, the Kootaney, the Skeena, the
Stickine, the Laird, and the Peace. The Eraser River is the
greater water course of the province, rising in the northern part
of the Rocky Mountains, and running about 200 miles in two
branches in a westerly direction, and thence in one stream due
south for nearly 400 miles before turning to rush through the
gorges of the coast range to the Straits of Georgia.

The total length of the river is therefore about 740 miles.
On its way the Eraser receives the tributary waters of the
Thompson, the Chilicoten, the Lillooet, the Nicola, the Harri-
son, the Pitt, and a number of smaller streams, For the last

518 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

eighty miles of its course it flows through a wide alluvial plain,
which has largely been deposited from its own silt.

The Columbia River rises in the southeastern part of the
province, in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, near the
Kootanay Lake. On this lake has already been established a
regular steamboat service. The Columbia runs north to just be-
yond the 5 2d degree of latitude, and then turns suddenly and
runs due south into the State of Washington. The loop thus
made is commonly known as "The Big Bend of the Columbia."
No less an area than 195,000 square miles is drained by the
Columbia River.

Network of Lakes and Creeks.

The Peace River rises some distance north of the north bend
of the Fraser and flows eastwardly to the Rocky Mountains,
draining the plains on the other side. In the far north are the
Skeena and Stickine Rivers, both flowing into the Pacific, the
latter, ' of course, being in a country valuable for its gold
deposits. The Thompson River has two branches, which are
known as North Thompson and South Thompson. The former
rises in small lakes in the Cariboo district, and the latter in the
Shuswap Lakes in the Yale district.

British Columbia, undeveloped and little known, as it is, is
already an important Province of the Dominion. Its trade,
which is ever rapidly increasing in volume, has assumed immense
proportions, and reaches to China, Japan, Australia, Europe,
Africa and South America. The principal seaport — Vancouver,
the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway — is the
gateway of the new and shortest highways to the Orient, the
Far North, the Tropics and the Antipodes. The voyage from
Yokohama, Japan, to London has already been made in twenty-
one days by this route, beating all previous records ; and the

619

520 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

journey to an3 from Australia, via Vancouver, is speedier and
more pleasant than by any other route.

British Columbia attracts not only a large portion of the
Japan, China and Australian rapid transit trade, but must neces-
sarily secure much of the commerce of the Pacific Ocean, the
steamers of the Canadian-Australian Line touching at the
Hawaiian and Fijian Islands. Its timber is unequalled in quan-
tity, quality or variety ; its numerous mines already discovered,
and its great extent of unexplored country, speak of vast areas
of rich mineral wealth ; its large fertile valleys indicate great
agricultural resources, and its waters, containing marvelous quanti-
ties of the most valuable fish, combine to give British Columbia a
value that has been little understood.

Boundaries of British Columbia.

The vast Territory of British Columbia is divided into six dis-
tricts, the New Westminster, the Cassiar, the Cariboo, the Lil-
looet, the Yale, and the East and the West Kootenay.

The New Westminster district extends from the international
boundary line on the South to 50° 15' on the North. Its east-
ern boundary is the 122° longitude, and its western the 124°
where it strikes the head of Jarvis Inlet and the Straits of
Georgia. In the southern portion of this district there is a good
deal of excellent farming land, particularly in the delta of the
Fraser River. The soil there is rich and strong, the climate
mild, resembling that of England, v/ith more marked seasons of
rain and dry weather, and heavy yields are obtained without
much labor. Very large returns of wheat have been got from
land in this locality — as much as sixty-two bushels from a mea-
sured acre, ninety bushels of oats per acre, and hay that yielded
three and one-half to five tons to the acre, and frequently two
crops, totaling six tons.

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 521

Experiments have of late years been made in fruit growing,
with the most satisfactory results — apples, plums, pears, cherries
and all the smaller fruits being grown in profusion, and at the
Experimental Farm at Agassiz, figs in small quantities have been
successfully produced. This part is fairly well settled, but there
is still ample room for new comers. Those having a little money
to use, and desirous of obtaining a ready-made farm, may find
many to choose from. These settlements are not all on the
Eraser ; some are at a distance from it on other streams. There
is considerable good timber in the western and south-western
portions.

The chief towns of this district are Vancouver arfd New West-
minster. Vancouver is situated on a peninsula, having Coal
Harbor, in Burrard Inlet, on the East, and English Bay on the
West. It is surrounded by a rare country, both in beauty and
climate. In the far distance it is backed by the Olympian range.
On the north it is sheltered by the mountains of the coast, and
it is also sheltered from the ocean by the highlands of Van-
couver Island. While it is thus protected on every side, ii
enjoys the sea breeze from the Straits of Georgia.

The inlet affords unlimited space for sea-going ships, the land
falls gradually to the sea, rendering drainage easy, and the situa-
tion permits of indefinite expansion of the city in two directions.
* It has a splendid and inexhaustible water supply brought across
the inlet from a river in d ravine of one of the neighboring
heights.

The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed to Vancouver
in May, 1887, when the first through train arrived in that city
from Montreal, Port Moody having been the western terminus
from July of the preceding year. In 1887, also the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company put a hne of steamships on the route
between Vancouver and Japan and China, and in 1893 an excel-

622 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

lent service was established between Vancouver and Victoria
and Australia, via Honolulu and Suva, Fiji.

These three important projects are giving an impetus to the
growth of the city by placing its advantages entirely beyond the
realm of speculation, and the advancement made is truly
marvelous.

New Westminster was founded by Colonel Moody during the
Fraser River gold excitement in 1858. It is situated on the
north bank of the Fraser River, fifteen miles from its mouth.
It is accessible for deep water shipping and lies in the centre of a
tract of country of rich and varied resources. It is connected
with the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway by a branch
line from Westminster Junction and with Vancouver by an electric
railway.

This town is chiefly known for its great salmon trade and its
lumber business. The agricultural interests, however, of the
district are now coming to the front and the city has the promise
of stability and importance.

Wide Stretches of Fertile Lands.

The Cassiar district occupies the whole western portion of the
province from the 26th degree of longitude. While its argicul-
tural capabilities have not yet been fully determined, it is known
to possess a number of tracts of very fertile land, notably that
occupied by the Bella Coola Colony, which has the promise of
great prosperity.

The district contains some of the richest gold mines yet dis-
covered in the province, and indications are numerous of further
mineral wealth to be developed. There are some prosperous
fish canning establishments on the coast, and parts of the district
are thickly timbered. Communication with the Cassiar District
is principally by water. Steamers start at regular dates from

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 523

Victoria for the Skeena River, Port Simpson and other points
on the coast within the district.

The Cariboo district lies between Cassiar on the west and
the Canadian Northwest on the east, its southern boundary
being the 5 2d parallel. This district contains the famous Cariboo
mines, from which ;^ 50,000,000 in gold have already been taken.

It is said that there is still in this district a promising field
for the miner. The immense output of the placer diggings
being the result of explorations and operations necessarily con-
fined to the surface, the enormous cost and almost insuperable
difficulties of transporting heavy machinery necessitate the em-
ployment of the most primitive appliances in mining.

Obstacles a Hindrance.

These obstacles to the full development of the marvelously
rich gold fields cf Cariboo have been largely overcome by the
construction of the Canadian Pacific, and the improvement of the
great highway from that railway to northern British Columbia,
with the result that the work of development has recently, been
vigorously and extensively ^osecuted. During the past few
years several costly hydraulic plants have been introduced by
different wealthy mining companies which are now operating
well-known claims with the most gratifying results, and there is
every prospect of a second golden harvest, which in its immen-
sity and value will completely overshadow that which made
Cariboo famous thirty years ago.

The development work for the season of 1896 served to
materially advance the interests of this district. Many hundreds
of men found employment in 1 897, and it is said that no one
wishing to do honest work for fair pay need there be idle.

The quartz mines have not as yet been exploited only in a
very superficial way, but the rich surface showing on Bums,

524 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Island and Bald mountains, all tend to prove that further research
and a fair use of capital will make the quartz mines of the
Cariboo district among the great producers and dividend payers
of the world. Gold abounds in every valley, and in every
stream that empties into it, and there is no estimating the
unusual activity in the Cariboo mining circles, some of the richest
places merely awaiting the advent of capital for that development
which the new condition of affairs has rendered easily possible.

Cariboo is not without agricultural resources, and there is a
limited area in scattered localities in which farming and ranching
are carried on ; but this region will always prove more attractive
to the miner than to the settler. The early construction of a
railway from a point on the main line of the Canadian Pacific,
through the district, when completed will open up many desir-
able locations and largely assist in developing the immense
mineral wealth already known to exist.

The Yale district is on the east of Lillooet and New West-
minster. It extends southward to the international boundary
and eastward to the range of high lands that separates the
Okanagan Valley from the Arr(fw Lakes. This district, it is
said, affords fine openings for miners, lumbermen, farmers and
ranchmen.

Is Famous for Grain.

Okanagan is famous as a grain growing country. For many
years this industry was not prosecuted vigorously, but of late
there has been unusual activity in this respect, and samples of
wheat raised in the district were sent to the Vienna Exposition,
where they were awarded the highest premiums and bronze
medals. One of the best flouring mills in the Dominion is now
in operation at Enderby. It is said that the flour manufactured
at this point is equal to the product of any other section of North
America.

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 525

Considerable attention is now being given to the various kinds
of fruit culture, and an important movement is on foot looking
to the conversion of the grain fields into orchards and hop fields.
Attention has been more particularly turned to the production of
Kentish hops, and during the past four years hops from this sec-
tion have brought the highest prices in the English market, com-
peting successfully with the English, the Continental, and those
grown in other parts of America.

The Earl of Aberdeen, Governor-General of Canada, has a
large fruit farm near Kelowna, on the east side of the lake.
His Excellency has also over 13,000 acres near Vernon, in the
Coldstream Valley, where general farming, hop growing and
fruit raising are carried on. His orchard of about 125 acres is
the point of attraction for visitors to Vernon. An excellent
quality of cigar wrapper and leaf tobacco is grown about
Kelowna, shipments of which are yearly increasing, but the pro-
duction has not yet become general.

Has a Vast Acreage.

The West Kootenay district is the next east of Yale, extend-
ing north and south from the Big Bend of the Columbia to the
international boundar)^, embracing, with East Kootenay, an area
of 16,500,000 acres. West Kootenay is noted chiefly for its
great mineral wealth. Rich deposits of various metals have been
discovered in different sections and new finds have been made
almost weekly for years. It is described by those who have
visited it au a country of illimitable possibilities. It is as yet,"
however, only in the earliest stages of development. Its vast
hidden wealth is thus largely a matter of conjecture.

Great progress has been made, though, and many camps have
been established throughout the entire district, and equipped
with all the necessary machinery for mining operations. In the

526 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Lardeau, Big Bend and other parts of the district the promise is
that the output will be very large in the near future.

The output of ore in 1 896 in West Kootenay approximated
;$6,ooo,ooo, and with the additional transportation and smelting
facilities now being afforded this amount will doubtless be
largely increased during 1897. Capitalists and practical miners
have shown their unbounded confidence in West Kootenay by
investing millions of dollars in developing claims, equipping
mines, erecting smelters, building tramways, etc., and an eminent
American authority speaks of it as " the coming mining empire
of the Northwest."

In 1 896 the population of West Kootenay was trebled, and
the year witnessed the creation of a number of new mining
camps which astonished the world with their phenomenal growth
and prosperity. There are valuable timber limits in different
parts of th'^ country, and saw-mills are in operation.

Mines Easily Reached.

The mining Oiocricts are easily reached from Revelstoke, on
the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, about midway
between the eastern slope of the Rockies and the Pacific coast.
From this point a branch line south is completed to Arrowhead,
at the head of Upper Arrow Lake, from which the fine new
steamers of the Columbia & Kootenay Steam Navigation Co.
are taken to Nakusp, near the foot of the lake, where rail com-
mimication with the towns of the Slocan, the principal of which
are New Denver, Three Forks and Sandon, the centre of a rich
mining region, has been established, and there is an excellent
steamboat service on Slocan Lake.

Steamers can also be taken from Arrowhead past Nakusp to
Robson, at the mouth of the Lower Kootenay River, along the
bank of which unnavigable river the C. P. R. runs by its Colum-

BRITISH COLUMBIA. 527

bia & Kootenay branch to Nelson, the metropolis of the Koo-
tenay mining district, in the vicinity of which are the celebrated
Silver King and other mines. *

From Nelson steamers ply to all the mining towns on the
Kootenay Lake — Pilot Bay, Ains worth, Kaslo, etc. From Rob-
son the steamers continue down the Columbia to Trail, from
which point Rossland, the centre of the new gold fields of the
Trail Creek district, is reached by railway, and to Nortliport in
the State of Washington.

The East Kootenay district comprises the larger part of the
famous Kootenay region of British Columbia, which is entered
from the East at Golden, on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Here, too, mines are worked successfully, and prospectors are
constantly seeking for new fields. The district contains a valley
nearly 300 miles long from the internationally boundary line to
the apex of the Kootenay triangle of the Big Bend of the
Columbia, with an average width of from eight to ten miles.

An Attractive Valley.

In the centre of this valley are enclosed the mother lakes of the
Columbia River, which lie 2850 feet above sea level. The soil
is reported to be rich. Judge Sproat describes the country as
one of the prettiest and most favored valleys in the province,
having good grass, a fine climate, established and promising
mines, excellent waterways, and an easy surface for road making.

There are numerous mines at work in different sections of the
district, chiefly in the Lower Kootenay country, in the north of
which are the Kaslo-Slocan mines ; in the centre, those around
Nelson and Ainsworth, and in the south those of the Goat
River and Trail Creek districts. There are no richer gold fields
than those of the latter mentioned district, of which Rossland is
Uie centre. Several mines are already operated extensively and

528 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

are paying large monthly dividends, while new discoveries indi-
cate that the full richness of this region cannot yet be even
approximately estimated.

Large shipments of ore are being made from Lc Roi, War
Eagle, Josie, Nickel Plate, Crown Point, Evening Star, Columbia
and Kootenay, O. K., Jumbo, Cliff, Iron Mask, Monte Christo,
St. Elmo, Lily May, Poorman and other leading mines, while
the Centre Star and other properties have large quantities on the
dump ready for shipment. With increased home smelting facili-
ties, the output of the camp will be immensely increased.

The most notable silver mines are in the famed Slocan district,
from which large shipments of ore have been and are being
made — the general character of its ore being high grade galena,
often carrying 400 ounces of silver to the ton, and averaging 100
ounces and over. The principal mines are the Slocan Star,
which paid ^300,000 in dividends in 1896, Enterprise, Reco,
Good Enough, Whitewater, Alamo, Ruth, Two Friends, Dar-
danelles, Noble Five, Washington, Payne, Idaho, Mountain
Chief and Grady groups.

During the summer of 1 896, some of the richest discoveries
in the Kootenay were found in the Salmon River country, be-
tween the Lower Kootenay River and the international boundary.
In the North, in the lUecillewaet, Fish Creek and Trout Lake
districts are rich properties which are being worked, and around
Lardeau, some valuable placer gold mines and extensive deposits
of galena are being developed. Between the Gold Range and
the Selkirks is the west side of the Big Bend of the Columbi?
River, that extends north of the 5 2d parallel.

CHAPTER XXIII.
Advent of Winter.

Confirmation of Stories About the Wealth of Klondike and Alaska — Perils
of the Passes — Dark and Bright Sides of the Picture, as Seen by Argo-
nauts— New Diggings Opened — Copper River and Cook's Inlet — New
Strikes in the Yukon Basin — Two Experiences in Crossing Chilkoot
Pass — Over the White Pass — Belated Gold Seekers Camping on the
Trail — Woes of the Horses — New Routes — Tramway at Dyea — ^Via the
Snow Train — At St. Michael's — In Dawson and Skagway — Glacier Slide
and Flood— Mt. St. Elias Scaled.

THE advent of winter in Alaska in the boom year of 1897
found several things definitely settled for the argonauts,
which before had been in some senses matters of debate,
if not of doubt. For one, there was no longer any question
that the Klondike was the richest gold field in the world. For
another, it was settled that to get to the diggings was no holiday
jaunt. But it had also been demonstrated that the trip was
practicable, and, for men who chose to use common sense in
outfitting and traveling, even easy, in comparison with some
frontier experiences of other pioneers.

It had cost much money and misery to gain this knowledge —
the world was the richer by the measure of the bitter expe-
riences of individuals.

It was estimated more millions had been spent between the
middle of July and the first of October in procuring outfits
and transportation to the Klondike than had been dug and
washed out of the golden placers in the entire year. And
much of this treasure had gone to waste, too — the trails from
the ocean over the mountains were strewed with wreckage, till
they looked not unlike the path of a routed and panic-stricken
army. " Tenderfeet" had played their historic part.

84 529

530 ADVENT OF WINTER.

The physical waste had also been something appalling. Not
so many lives had been sacrificed as in some other famous gold
stampedes, for the way was not so long nor the perils so many as
in the case of California or Australia or the Rand ; nevertheless
the total was a startling array of casualties. Lives had gone
out in icy torrents or under avalanches, murder and the swift
vengeance of the vigilantes had been done, and the tragic ele-
ment had been further sustained by the uncounted scores of
those who had broken health and spirit in the mad rush
through frontier privations and perils only to fall by the wayside.

On the Bright Side.

That was the dark side of the picture. On the other hand,
thousands of men and not a few women had got through to
Dawson and its neighborhood, and many more, in good health,
with ample supplies and unflagging energies, were already well
along on the journey to the mines when October set in. Re-
ports from the Klondike indicated that the fears of wholesale
starvation among the mining camps during the winter were un-
founded. The commercial and trading companies had suc-
ceeded in getting in large stores of staple supplies, and the
prospect was for abundant and profitable employment for those
who, by preference or fate, might be forced to work for others.
Preparations for ample policeing of the Yukon basin had been
made, and law and order, unusual in primitive mining camps, were
promised. Engineering, science and capital had come to the solu-
tion of the transportation problem, and the days of relatively rapid
and easy traffic over the passes and through the wilderness
seemed just at the dawn. If the picture had a dark side for
the '97rs who had tried to get through and failed, it had a com-
pensatory bright side for those who were looking forward to
trying their fortunes in 1 898.

ADVENT OF WINTER. 531

This later history of Alaska is being written daily in the ex-
periences of thousands. Much that is new one day will be old
the next, so rapidly does the Klondike kaleidoscope revolve.
Some of the more remarkable incidents of the Alaskan autumn
of '97 follow. They are all part of the wonderful chronicle ;
though the relative importance of each to the prospective gold
seeker may be varied by after events, their place as facts in the
marvelous development of the new El Dorado is fixed.

In New Diggings.

The close of the season brought the news of many new dig-
gings. Peace, Stewart and McMillan rivers attracted especial
attention of prospectors during the fall, and many parties went in
to explore the new fields. The most interest probably centered,
however, in the Cook's Inlet and Copper River countries. The
former field seemed to be exceptionally rich. Early in October
over one hundred miners reached Sitka from the Inlet and every
one had his ** pile." Most of the metal came from Mill Creek, Link
Creek, Bear Creek, Canon Creek or smaller streams in that vicinity.

The clean-up represented the work of only one season on the
claims. The men who brought out the most were those who
had worked their claims the longest. George T. Hall, who
represented the Alaska and Klondike Mining Company as expert
and chief engineer, said the gravel in the Inlet region would
average ;^i.50 a yard and there was no end to it in sight.

The comparatively temperate winter climate of the south-
eastern coast region attracted early attention to the Copper River
as a handy make-shift for those who had sought to go into
Dawson via the passes and had been stranded at Skagway or
Dyea by lack of transportation over the crowded trails. Several
parties were reported organizing for winter prospecting tours in
that region early in the fall and the chances were thought to be

632 ADVENT OF WINTER.

that another year might see a formidable rival to the Klondike
in a more accessible basin. The chief drawback to these ven-
tures lay in the stories of the savage native tribes, related to be
fiercer warriors than any others on the Alaskan coast, but the
most appalling of these tales were freely discounted by veteran
frontiersmen and, at the worst, it was argued, a well-equipped
body of determined men could probably find a way to keep their
gold and get out with it, if they made a strike.

In the Klondike.

In the Klondike new discoveries were reported on Victoria
and Bear Creeks which were as rich as those on the original
stream, but both fields were small and every claim was quickly
located. Miller Creek and Minook Creek also had "booms"
and in fact every gulch was the scene of more or less excitement
as the rush for gold swept over the country from one bonanza to
another. Hunker Creek and Gold Bottom (suggestive) Creek
were among the most highly esteemed of the later fields. J. F.
Maloney, of Juneau, estimated some of the Hunker claims at
;^2000 to the box.

Dominion Surveyor William Ogilvie, who is an acknowledged
authority, was one of the latest to come out from Dawson en
route to Ottawa on official business. In a report on the gold-
bearing quartz prospects of the Yukon valley, he said :

" It is a most difficult country to do quartz prospecting in.
Only at a few points along the creek is any rock exposed. The
tops of the higher hills and ridges are void of vegetation, except
arctic mosses and lichens, but all the rest of the country is
covered with a thick layer of moss which, again, supports scrub
spruce, some scrub white birch, and a thick growth of northern
shrubbery. This completely conceals the surface of the rocks,
and to remove to a sufficient extent to search for quartz pros

ADVENT OF WINTER. 533

pects would entail a vast amount of labor — much more than the
ordinary every day prospector can afford.

Quartz Mining.

" The cheapest and most expeditious methods of quartz pros-
pecting here would be by diamond drill. A light, portable
machine of that description, a compact light engine and boiler
sufficient to work it, could be easily made and set up at various
points along the various creeks. From the cones thus obtained
experts could readily determine what the probabilities and pros-
pects were. This requires capital, but I have no doubt a com-
pany formed with this object in view, prospecting in this way,
would find it a profitable investment.

"All the gold I have seen taken out of El Dorado and
Bonanza, for that matter of other creeks, too, bears no evidence
of having traveled any distance. Many, it might be said the
majority, of the nuggets found are just as regular and irregular
in shape as if they had been hammered out of the mother lode,
instead of being washed out of the gravel.

"I have seen no evidence of glaciation anywhere in that
district, so I cannot help coming to the conclusion that much
of the mother lode from which this gold came will yet be
found along the valleys. Whether it is concentrated enough
to pay for the expense of quartz mining can only be deter-
mined by proper search. I cannot help thinking that much
of it will.

" Now let us take a glimpse of the country south of the
Stewart River, some sixty-five or seventy miles further up and
about 400 miles in length. Its tributary will easily double this.
This gives us in the neighborhood of 1000 miles of stream. On
a great deal of surface prospecting has been done and fine gold
found everywhere.

534 ADVENT OF WINTER.

" Now, where fine gold is found coarse gold has generally-
been found, too. Assuming this to hold good in the Stewart
valley, we will have here one of the largest, if not the largest,
mining areas in the world, upwards of one hundred miles farther
up the Pelly Joinso. On this fine gold has been found, too.
Above is the Hootalinqua, upon which fine gold has been found.
Still farther south the Cassiar district, in British Columbia, was a
famous gold field. Farther on yet the Cariboo district was
famous.

Where the Gold Is.

** Now, draw a line through these several points and produce
it northwestward, you will find that the Forty Mile gold bearing
area. Mission Creek and Seventy Mile Creek, below Forty Mile,
Birch Creek, Minook Creek, and still farther down the Klondike
is either in this line or close to it. The general trend of these
points lies in the direction of an arc of a great circle of the earth
and it is probable that gold will be found along its production as
far as Bering Sea. It is likely the gold found in Siberia is a part
of the same system.

" This shows a most extensive area of vast possibilities. What
it wants for its proper development is increased transportation
facilities, with the certainty of sufficient food supply to sustain
the number of people required. At present and during the past,
a visit to the country entailed a long period of time and consid-
erable expense and much uncertainty as to whether or not one
can remain there more than a few weeks. Give us increased,
quicker, and cheaper ingress and egress, with a certainty of food
in this part of Canada, and Alaska will furnish employment to
untold thousands."

All the discoveries were not confined to gold. William
Miller, a veteran from the diamond mines of South Africa and
Brazil, wrote late in the summer that he had found a blue clay

ADVENT OF WINTER. 535

near Dawson which was practically identical with that of South
Africa. From this he argued the probability of finding dia-
monds. One paragraph in his letter said ;

" You have undoubtedly heard much of the great wealth of
this land, but the best has never yet been told. It is my honest
opinion that diamonds will yet be found in this country, for I
have found a blue clay that is practically identical with that of
South Africa, with other characteristics that in Africa would be
taken as - a certain indication that shiners were in the neighbor-
hood. I have not made a systematic search for stones, but I
propose doing so later. Just now I am too busy panning gold
to spend any time prospecting for a bird in the bush."

Situation at Dawson.

Joaquin Miller wrote from Dawson on the " anniversary " day,
as follows :

**An agent of the Rothschilds told me that he offered ;i^ 1,2 50-
000 for ten claims together, but did not get th';;ni. I think he
is going out without making any purchases. The most of the ten
claims have not even had a pick in them yet, far as I can see.
They look like a marsh with mud and moss. You sink at least
six inches in the soft and sloppy brown mud as you walk over
it. This marsh is a muck as you can see by claims that are
partly open up and down the gulch, and below this muck of
three or four feet is the frozen ground of five or ten feet thick-
ness, in which the gold is found.

"The prices asked for claims are absolutely steep. A lawyer
from Juneau offered ;^ 100,000 for a claim yesterday, but was
laughed at by the owner, who simply camps with his claim and
does not work enough to hold it. He is waiting to get ;^2 50,000
for it, he says.

" Captain Healy told me that neither Montano nor Idaho ever

536 ADVENT OF WINTER.

showed anything like the gold in sight in the Klondike mines.
He said there would be more gold taken out of this Yukon
country than ever has been taken out of all the States together.
Of course, they all say that they are the richest in the world, and
that they are practically exhaustless, but they advise men to
keep away if they are not miners. It is to our interest to have
a great rush this way, but I don't want weak men of any sort
here. This is no place for a man who knows nothing about
mining. Only miners, and sound good miners at that, should
come to the Klondike."

Tales of the Passes.

All sorts of stories come in about the passes and the principal
towns at their coast ends. All of them, perhaps, were some-
what exaggerated, according to the temperament and good or
bad luck of the relator, but all probably had a fair foundation of
truth. A " tenderfoot " would naturally view a foot-and-hand
journey through a mountain pass, whose principal points were
precipitous paths, mud, snow, rain, sleet, ice and tempests, as
something terrifying and terrible ; an old frontiersman might as
naturally see nothing unusual or inappropriate in the same con-
ditions. The varied reports, however, emphasized the truth that
it i-s hard work to get to the Klondike, and if a man does not want
to rough it to the fullest extent he had better stay at home in
civilization, though, if he is willing to take risks and endure
hardships, he can get into Dawson with reasonable speed and
safety.

After Joaquin Miller was fairly afloat on the Yukon and near-
ing Dawson he wrote back his impressions of the Chilkoot Pass
in these words :

"As for the hardships, I find they have been mightily multi-
plied. As for the perils there are really none to speak of now.

ADVENT OF WINTER. 637

Of course, if disposed to fret or find fault, you can make the
journey down the Yukon dreary and hard. On the other hand,
if you have any heart for nature, strange scenes, vast lands and
indescribable skies you will find delight in every day from the
time you touch land where the steamer sets you down at Dyea
till here in sight of the Klondike as we are now.

The Hardest Climb.

•* I must frankly admit that the Chilkoot Pass is a .fearful
climb for a man to make with a load on his back. But it is not
nearly so bad as the climbing of Mount Hood, Mount Shasta or
any other one of the ten or a dozen peaks that I have climbed,
and hundreds of others have climbed and are still climbing, and
all just for fun. You see, all these things depend a deal on the
light in which you are willing to view them. For my part, while
I, as a truthful chronicler, confess that the so-called twenty-four
miles of the Chilkoot seemed to me to be about forty, with my
pack on my back, and also confess that my feet were lame and
legs weary, and my back felt as if the weight of a century lay
upon me, yet I enjoyed every spot of it as entirely as ever I en-
joyed the ascent of any steep I ever made, aye, and more en-
tirely, for here I had a purpose and was bearing a man's, and a
strong man's, pack in the battle of life ; not climbing for the
view or honors of it.

"And one notable difference between the perils and hardships
of to-day and the days of old is the safety from savages. We
used to be in constant danger, and no man went about by day or
lay down at night in the Sierras without a gun or two at his side,
and, trained to the old life, I am constantly finding myself choos-
ing my bed when we camp on the river bank for the night with
cautious guard against a possible arrow by light of our camp
fire. But the men with us who have been years on the Yukon

538 ADVENT OF WINTER.

select resting places with regard only to comfort. The few
Indians in this vast region are not only harmless, but very
honest and inactive. There are no snakes, and I, so far, have
found no insects of any sort that bother anybody, excepting the
mosquitoes and flies."

S. C. Dunham's Hard Luck.

Samuel C. Dunham, the statistical expert of the United States
Department of Labor, who had been assigned by Commissioner
Wright to investigate the chances for the remunerative employ-
ment of American labor and capital in the Yukon country, had
a different experience in getting over the pass from Dyea. His
official report, sent in from camp on Lake Linderman, contained
the following :

" I left Dyea Monday morning at 1 1 o'clock and arrived here
Tuesday evening at 7. My four Indians started ahead of me,
but I have not seen anything of them since the start and am
waiting for them here. When I reached the foot of the summit
a terrible storm was raging on the pass, and I presume the
Indians went into camp somewhere on the other side to await
better weather. It has been storming — rain, sleet, and snow
alternating — constantly on the summit since Tuesday morning
and the situation is aggravated by a piercing wind of thirty miles
velocity. I had an awful experience coming across the summit.
I started out with my handbag strapped on my back, thinking
that as it weighed only forty pounds I could carry it. I managed
to struggle along to the head of navigation for canoes, six miles
from Dyea, and was there forced to employ an Indian packer,
paying him ^ i o to carry my grip to Sheep Camp, twelve miles
from Dyea.

** I spent the night at Sheep Camp, which is merely a collec-
tion of tents, and started for the summit at 8 o'clock Tuesday

• ADVENT OF WINTER. 539

morning in a drizzling, cold rain. I employed a packer to carry
my grip from there to Lake Linderman, paying him $i6. At
the foot of the summit we met perhaps a hundred Indian and
white packers who had cached their packs on the trail above
and were returning to Sheep Camp to await an abatement of
the storm. We were warned that it was dangerous to attempt
to get over, but as the wind was blowing the way wc were going,
we decided to go ahead, as I felt sure my pnckers had gone on,
and I wished to be here when they arrived. The distance from
the foot of the summit to the top is said to be three-quarters of
a mile, but it seems like five miles.

On the Trail.

** The trail ascends at an angle of forty-five degrees, skirting
precipices, where a misstep would hurl one a thousand feet
below, crossing the face of glaciers as smooth as glass, and in
many places traversing the polished surface of great granite bowl-
ders hundreds of feet in extent. Every hundred yards or so
mountain torrents, fed by the glaciers, and on the present occa-
sion augmented by the rainfall, rush across the trail and have to
be waded, the water often coming to the knees. Add to this a
gale blowing fifty piiles an hour, with sleet and snow rushing
horizontally through the air and the temperature at thirty
degrees, and you will have a faint idea of the horrors of my pas-
sage across the summit. After struggling up a steep ascent of
twenty-five or thirty feet, I would be forced from sheer exhaus-
tion to rest for a moment, but would scarcely stop before the
chilling wind would cut me to the marrow, and I would have to
continue my course to keep from chilling to death. Before I
reached the summit I was wet to the skin and my boots were
full of water, and the added weight of the water made it almost
impossible to proceed.

540 ADVENT OF WINTER.

" I finally reached this camp, at the head of Lake Linderman,
about 7 o'clock in the evening, having been eleven hours in
covering twelve miles, so exhausted that I could scarcely drag
one foot after the other. I had a letter from a friend to a gen-
tleman who is in camp here, and I was kindly received by him
and made as comfortable as possible in his tent. As my
Indians had not arrived I had no change of underclothing,
and was forced to accept his offer of a suit of warm, dry under-
clothing, and these, supplemented by half a teacupful of rum,
brought some warmth back to my body. I remained in bed
all day yesterday, too thoroughly worn out to move. I had
some fear of pneumonia, but, with the exception of some sore-
ness, am feeling fairly well this morning."

Via the White Pass.

T. A. Davies, writing of the White Pass route just before the
trail was closed, drew a none too inviting picture of that famous
gateway to the Klondike. He said that the foot of the first
hill, four miles out of Skagway, 3000 gold seekers were in camp
at one time trying to " get in." Some succeeded, more turned
back disheartened, and many were still on the ground, unable to
move, when he passed there in the middle of September. The
camp had come then to be known locally as ** Liarsville :"

" At the foot of this hill tons of abundant provisions can be
seen — wagon loads of oranges, apples and onions — which specu-
lators had intended taking to the Klondike, hoping to realize
handsomely thereon. Among piles of goods are seen numer-
ous boats, originally intended for immediate use on arrival at
the lakes, but now they are left to rot with the other useless
supplies. A great many improvised signs on trees tell of per-
sons having goods for sale all along the trail. From the foot
of the first hill to the summit of Porcupine hill is a gradual rise

ADVENT OF WINTER. 541

of four miles, and then a descent to what is known as the First
Bridge over the Skagway river. To the third crossing of the
river the passage is simply a repetition of the first three miles
— mud and dead horses on every side. At the third bridge
the first camp of any size is reached. A cut-off around one of
the larger hills has been blasted out of the solid rock, and this
is followed until the ford is reached. This ford is the last cross-
ing of the river.

" A climb of an hour and the summit of White Pass is
reached, half way from Skagway to Lake Bennett. About
three inches of snow have fallen. The wind blows a gale and
dashes snow, sleet and rain in the face of the prospector. The
snow and sleet are so blinding, even at this season of the year,
that it often is necessary for the prospector to double on his
track for the purpose of finding the trail.

On to Lake Bennett.

'* Leaving the lower end of Shallow Lake, the beginning of
the last tramp toward Lake Bennett begins. The trail runs
through timber, meadows and marshes, affording a pleasant di-
versity of scene. This is by far the best portion of the Skag-
way trail. Within a distance of ten miles twenty marshes are
crossed. On every hand evidence of the final rush to reach
water before the freeze may be observed. Immense pack trains
are hurrying along, blockades of horses and goods are of
hourly occurrence, and the oaths of the men turn the air blue.
The prize is almost lost in sight, and the men feel that it must
not be lost by delay at the final point. Prices suddenly become
very high. Oats sell for ;^40 per i oo pounds. Two miles from
Lake Bennett and the sound of hammers, axes and saws is heard.
Crowds of men, felling trees and cutting timber, are eloquent of
the struggle to get material for boats.

542 ADVENT OF WINTER.

" Reaching Lake Bennett the beach is covered with tents,
their occupants impatiently waiting to get away. A strong
breeze disturbs the surface of the lake, and the boats put out as
they are completed, with all manner of rigging. One that I
noticed had a bed blanket for a sail. The wind takes the boat
in a direct line towards the mighty Yukon, and it soon passes
out of view. The proverbial honesty of mining camps does not
prevail at Lake Bennett. Instances of stealing are so common
that every one leaves a guard on duty with his goods all the
time.

*'A few days ago three men started down the Yukon together.
After going thirty-five miles, two of them landed to see a friend
on shore. The third stole the entire outfit and went on down,
compelling the two who had landed to tramp back through a
wilderness of woods to Camp Bennett, which they had reached
during my stay there.

Universal Demand for Boats.

** Boats are one great commodity at Lake Bennett.. Every-
body wants one. A small, wheezy sawmill attempts to supply
lumber and boats. All the lumber it can cut — looo feet a day
— is readily gobbled up at 75 cents a lineal foot. An ordinary
river boat sells for ^300, larger ones for ;^400 and ;^500. A
passenger for Dawson City without goods can buy a passage in
one of these boats, or rather a place big enough to sit down in,
for ;^ioo. Most of the boats carry four or five passengers in
addition to the regular supply of goods. When a party finds
that it has room left in a boat a sign is placed on a convenient
tree offering passage for men, and possibly for goods, at stated
price.

" Leaving Lake Bennett and walking half a mile to the south-
west, the worst section of the rapids in the portage between Lake

' ADVENT OF WINTER. 543

Linderman and Lake Bennett is reached. Here many prospectors,
after a hard struggle in the mountain passes, have lost all in
attempting to shoot the rapids without unloading their boats. It
is here, also, that one comes to a little rude inclosure, bearing a
sign telling that all that is earthly of J. W. Mathes is there buried.
A year ago Mathes and a party of his fellows got so far on their
way to the Yukon gold fields. Mathes fell and broke one of the
small bones in his leg. Being already discouraged and dis-
heartened, and believing that he never would reach the gold
fields, anyway, and that if his companions were obliged to bring
him back to the coast they would blame him for their lost for-
tunes, he placed a revolver to his head and killed himself. The
site of his grave is now one of the best-known landmarks on the
route to the Klondike gold fields. At this place the boats are
usually unloaded and the goods carried around the dangerous
rapids, and the boat then floated down empty. The afternoon I
reached the portage one party had unloaded all its goods and
was letting the boat through the rapids after the usual methods
of lining it down. One man remained in the boat to stqer, and
three men on shore held the rope to keep the rapids from carry-
ing it out of reach. When fairly started the rope broke and the
boat went down the rapids like a shot. By rare good fortune a
friendly current carried the boat to a sand-spit and it was saved :
but instances are numerous where men have not been so fortu-
nate."

Woes of the Horses.

The demand for transportatiou over the passes was the cause
of bringing in hundreds of horses to be used as pack animals and
supplement the Indians in the arduous work of getting supplies
and outfits from the coast to the head of river navigation. The
experiment was in the main profitable to the owners, for the
prices for packing made a horse pay for himself in a compara-

644 ADVENT OF WINTER.

tively few trips, but the mortality among the poor beasts was
something unparalleled.

On the Skagway trail, or White Pass, as many as 1 200 horses
were in use at one time after the trail was fairly opened in the
middle of September, but of this number it was estimated not
one hundred would be alive in a month's time. Even then
(September 1 5th) 600 dead horses could be counted along the
trail. Many of these were the victims of accidents, but by far
the greater number had succumbed to exhaustion and disease.
Poor food, and not too much of it, made them weaker day by
day, and pneumonia, the result of getting chilled at night, swept
them off by scores.

On the Dyea trail, or Chilkoot Pass, not so many norses were
employed, and the visible mortality was consequently less, but
at that, at least 150 dead animals lay beside the trail when T. A.
Davies passed over it in September. The unfortunate beasts had
been left to perish where they fell from fatigue.

Enormous Prices for Transportation.

The loss of horses had a material effect on the packing tariff.
A contract for the entire White Pass trail was almost an impossi-
bility to make, and the aggregate price sometimes reached as
high as one dollar a pound. The largest long contract reported
during the fall was for ;^ 30,000, with, the Canadian Government,
for moving the supplies for twenty-five of the Canadian mounted
police.

An official survey ordered by the Dominion government to
locate if possible a new and more practicable trail to the upper
Yukon, reported an easy and comparatively short cut to Selkirk
or Dawson from the seaboard and one suitable for cattle, wagon
or railroad. J. M. McArthur, who was in charge of the party,
made the following preliminary report of its work when he

ADVENT OF WINTER. 646

passed through Juneau in September. It will be seen the old
Dalton trail was made use of for some distance :

** From the extreme left of the Chilkoot Pass the party headed
northwest for a point about lOO miles inland, where Dalton and
others have a trading post. Thence they took a course north to
a chain of small lakes called Hootchie Eye. So far the course
was over what is known as the Dalton trail, which, from the
Hootchie Eye, continues down the river sixty miles to the Lewis
River, but from the Hootchie Eye, Dalton struck out due north
for Fort Selkirk, into a country 120 miles across, never before
explored by a white man and totally unknown. Such is the
wonderful instinct of this man that the entire party came out of
the wilderness at a point directly beyond the buildings at Fort
Selkirk, in the Yukon, at the mouth of Pelly River, where the
Yukon proper begins.

" Plenty of grazing for the cattle was found. The country is
characterized by comparatively low and rolling mountains, over
which the party went.

Advice from Wrangel.

United States Commissioner Kenneth M. Jackson, writing of
the various routes into the Klondike, had this to say which may
not come amiss as a pointer for those who choose to take time
to pick their way to the diggings :

" Of all the routes into the Yukon country I would advise the
one via Wrangel, the Stikine River, and Lake Teslin, as pre-
senting less difficulties and hardships. By next spring the only
portion of this route that cannot be made by steamboat or rail
will be over an easy pack trail from the Stikine to Lake Teslin,
a distance of about 135 miles, and upon which the British Col-
umbia government is now spending money, and over which a
wagon or railroad will be constructed very soon. From Lake
36

546 ADVENT OF WINTJER.

Teslin down the Hootalingua to the mines one or two steamboats
will be running next year. I advisedly caution persons from
attempting the trip till next spring, and when they do start, if
possible, arrange to buy a year's supply of grub per capita when
they get to the coast. One can get better information as to what
is needed here than at home."

W. A. Pratt, sent in by the Yukon Mining and Trading Com-
pany, of Wilmington, Delaware, reconnoitered what he declared
was a practicable route for a railroad from the head of Taku
Inlet to Lake Teslin. The Canadian Pacific had a party out
during the fall running a line for a railroad from Lake Teslin to
Telegraph Creek.

Tramway at Chilkoot Pass.

Out of the many schemes for rail transportation over the
mountains, the first to take definite shape in action was that
for a tramway over Chilkoot Pass. The engineer's plans were
in working order early in October, and the first of the material
had then begun to arrive on the ground at Dyea. Seventeen
miles of inch wire cable will be used in constructing the eight
and a half miles of aerial tramway by which freight will be
transported seven and a half miles, lifted to the summit of the
pass and let down again to Crater Lake. The road will be a
broad guage, with a daily capacity of 1 20 tons of freight, or the
outfits for 120 men. The contract calls for the completion of
the road by January 15, 1898, and then it is expected the jour-
ney from tidewater to Dawson can be made in less than forty
days and with an immense economy in men and money.

Among the novel schemes — which at the same time had an
air of practicableness — for getting into the Yukon basin during
the winter season, was that of the snow locomotive, invented by
George T. Glover, of Chicago. The snow train had been in

ADVENT OF WINTER. 647

successful operation in the pineries of Michigan for two years,
hauling on runners great loads of logs and making fairly good
time over considerable grades.

When the reports of probable starvation in the Klondike
region made it a matter of instant importance for the General
Government to prepare for the exigency by ascertaining the best
and speediest means by which supplies could be transported
from the coast to Dawson, General Alger, the Secretary, to
whom the Glover log locomotive was familiar, bethought himself
at once of the snow train, and at the same time Mr. Glover
bethought himself of the Secretary of War. The result was a
series of conferences in Washington, the matter was laid before
the Cabinet, and it was practically agreed that, if it became
necessary to succor starving argonauts, the Glover snow locomo-
tive should be used. It was estimated that a train carrying lOO
tons of freight and passengers could be pulled by this locomo-
tive over the passes, across the plains and down the river on
the snow and ice, from Fort Wrangel to Dawson, in less than
ten days, and could keep lowering the record as the road be-
came worn, until not more than six days each way would be
consumed."

Caught on the Trail.

Of all the thousands who started for Dawson by the various
routes before the winter had laid an embargo on the mountain
passes or blocked th^ Yukon with ice, it was variously estimated
from the civilized end of the line that from 6000 to 7000 suc-
ceeded in reaching their destination. How many others were
forced to winter at intermediate points was beyond accurate
computation — the region to be covered was too vast and there
were too many vicissitudes of climate and trail to be figured on.

On the White Pass trail, late in September, there were at least
1 200 gold seekers, of whom probably not more than 300 sue-

548 ADVENT OF WINTER.

ceeded in reaching the lakes, the rest being caught by snow and
ice. On the Chilkoot Pass trail there were probably as many
more in all stages of progress and predicament. Perhaps half"
this number made out to get to Dawson, or at least well down
the rivers. All those who remained behind had only the alter-
native to build log cabins on the trail and camp for the season,
or leave their goods and make a perilous struggle back to civili-
zation. Camps approaching the dignity of small towns were
established at Lake Bennett and Lake Linderman when the first
snow came, and many went into permanent winter quarters at
once, reasoning that it would not cost more in supplies to winter
there than in Klondike, and that by saving their health and re-
maining at the advanced post they would have a good start in
strength and distance and could be the first "in" in the spring.
Among the 300 in camp at Lake Linderman were a number of
women and children.

SnoTV and Lew Temperature.

One of the proprietors of the saw mill at Lake Bennett reached
Juneau on October 7th, and reported a heavy snowfall on the
headwaters of the Yukon when he left. On the morning of
October 3d the thermometer showed eight degrees below zero,
and the boats in the river had to be cut out of the ice.

The McKay party, which contained a number of women, had
reached Lake Bennett and was about to start down the river,
insufficiently clad and provisioned. The Canadian police were
debating stopping the party, considering the attempt to make
Dawson would be little less than suicide.

Captain Tuttle, of the United States revenue cutter Bear, sent
in an official report from St. Michael's, dated September i6th, in
which he said :

" There are in port seven seagoing vessels and six river steam-

ADVENT OF WINTER. 649

ers, with one steamer and one barge in process of construction
on the beach. About 300 people are encamped on the beach
awaiting the completion of these vessels. At least seven vessels
are expected to arrive, many of them with passengers. There
is no possible chance of these people reaching the Upper Yukon
this season, and they must winter here or at some point inside
the mouth of the Yukon. While there will be an abundance of
provisions, the trading companies having their main depots here,
trouble is likely to arise from those who have no provisions and
no means to purchase them. This, however, is a small matter
when taken into consideration with matters above Fort Yukon
on the Yukon River.

" On September 1 3th the river steamer Hamilton returned from
its up-river trip, having been unable to reach Circle City. Cap-
tain Hill reported the river so low as to prevent his reaching his

destination."

Danger of Starvation.

Probably enough more argonauts reached St. Michael's after
Captain Tuttle's letter left to raise the total number prepared to
winter there to 600 or even twice that number.

Captain Tuttle closed his official communication with this
suggestion :

** Laws in regard to the inspection of steam vessels are entirely
disregarded, as no inspector of hulls or boilers has visited this
place. At least sixteen such vessels are now running in this
part of Alaska. If I should seize them starvation would ensue
to those who are depending upon these vessels to bring them
provisions. At the same time hundreds of people are traveling
on these vessels, which are without the safeguards to life that the
law provides they shall have.

"A deputy collector of customs is stationed at St. Michael's,
who is required to attend to all customs business. Frequently

550 ADVENT OF WINTER.

there are several vessels in port discharging bonded goods at the
same time. It is impossible for one man to attend to all this
business. After leaving St. Michael's there is no customs officer
in charge of these goods. Vessels frequently get aground, and
it is necessary to discharge their cargoes before they can be
floated. Great opportunities are afforded to defraud the cus-
toms. There should be a customs officer on every vessel carry-
ing bonded goods, and provision should be made to have the
vessels inspected as the law requires."

At Dawson City.

The prospect for Dawson City at the beginning of winter indi-
cated a population in the town of about 7000 and in the tribu-
tary country of half as many more. Considerable building en-
terprise had been displayed and log houses were multiplying for
residences, while commodious business houses were rising along
Water Street. The new Mission house was expected to be in
full readiness for its works of charity by the time the ice season
was fairly settled. The new opera house or music hall was in
full blast and in general the promise was for a bustling, thriving
town. Lots in Water Street the first of October sold for ^10,000
and lots for cabins at proportionate rates.

St. Michael's, old Yukoness thought, stood a chance to be the
winter haven of the easily disheartened overflow from Dawson.
When the low water in the river delayed the arrival of the boats
with provisions many took fright and started down stream to
meet the supplies or force their way through to the sea. Others
formed parties to go out en route to civilization and the combina-
tion made quite an exodus. The Klondikers who stayed behind,
however, were not troubled by the departures — they meant fewer
mouths to feed and more claims to " go around."

Returning steamers from Sitka, Juneau and other ports late in

ADVENT OF WINTER. 551

the fall brought full complements of gold seekers who had been
beaten by delays or the climate in getting over the passes, and
preferred to spend their money in steamer fares to reach the
homes and flesh pots of civilization for the winter, rather than in
paying boom prices for bare subsistence in such already over-
crowded towns as Skagway, Juneau and Dyea. It is estimated
that over a thousand argonauts had returned to Washington,
Oregon and California in this way by the middle of October.

Among the last to go in by way of St. Michael's was Lieu-
tenant Colonel Randall, U. S. A., who took with him twenty-five
soldiers from Fort Russell and an outfit of 150 tons of stores
and provisions. Part of the detachment was to be stationed at
St. Michael's and the rest were to go up the river near the inter-
national boundary.

Growth of Skagway.

Skagway is one Alaskan town which owes its existence to gold,
though there is none of the precious metal there, except what
has been brought in and "dropped" by argonauts rushing to
the Klondike placers. It owes its standing as a town to the
lucky fact that it is the natural landing place for the White Pass,
and to the additional fact that owing to the lateness of opening
this trail several thousands of men had to linger in Skagway for
many weeks waiting and struggling for the coveted chance to
get out.

Two pictures of the place are of interest. In August, 1897,
Hal Hoffman wrote of this " half-way to Klondike and stuck "
town, as it was then familiarly called :

" This is a city of eleven frame or log houses, a' saw mill, five
stores, four saloons, a crap game, a faro layout, blacksmith shop,
five restaurants which are feeding people all the time, a tailor
shop, on which is hung the sign, * Bloomers fitted for shotguns,'
a real estate office, two practicing physicians, another professional

652 ADVENT OF WINTER.

pathfinder whose specialty is shown by the sign painted on a
board nailed to a tree, ' Teeth extracted,' some 300 tents, and a
population of about 2000 men and seventeen women. Four of
the women are accompanying their husbands into the Klondike,
the others are unchaperoned. A dance hall will be erected next
week. Skagway is already a typical mining camp. Its popula-
tion is proud of it. They go further and say it will be a ' hot
town ' next winter. Streets have been laid out. Broadway runs
from high tide four miles back to. the mountain base and is walled
with tents, piles of supplies and felled trees. The gold seekers
never overlook an opportunity to make fun drown their im-
patience."

As it Developed.

In the latter part of September, when all but the hardiest or
those who had determined to winter there or to take up a more
permanent residence had left the town, another wrote of the same
place in different terms thus :

. *' Skagway is a conglomoration of all nationalities. All kinds
of buildings — or, rather, lack of buildings — are in evidence.
Sidewalks are unknown. One just wades and wades. The first
requisite is a pair of rubber boots — good, long ones.

''Along each side of Broadway, the main street, are
ranged the business houses. There are about twenty saloons,
eleven blacksmith shops, thirty restaurants and bakeries and
fifty miscellaneous lines, dance halls, hotels, custom houses,
etc., while the Territorial Surveyor and his deputies find room
to do a good business. This is a mecca for speculators. On
one corner the dismayed prospector, outfitted completely for the
Yukon, has decided to abandon his trip and is selling his flour
for, perhaps, 50 cents a sack. Within fifteen minutes after he
has sold the flour the speculative purchaser is offering it from
$2 to $2, a sack.

ADVENT OF WINTER. 553

" Skagway now has about lOO frame buildings, a population
approaching 1 200, and committees for almost every conceivable
purpose — from a committee on removing dead horses to com-
mittees to look after the numerous correspondents of Eastern
dailies — the latter committee having even more to do than the
dead horse committee. Skagway really is an orderly town from
a frontier standpoint. Comparatively few robberies are re-
ported, when the great number of miscellaneous specimens of
hlimanity who have rushed in there is considered. To be sure,
probably not half the population know when Sunday comes —
in fact, there is no Sunday in Skagway, Saloons and all kinds
of gambling games — keno, faro, black jack, poker, roulette —
flourish by day and by night, seven days and seven nights each
week, without interruption. The only cloud that appears on the
gambler's horizon is the appearance of the deputy United States
marshals, which usually threatens a seizure of liquors, providing
there is an overabundance. The liquor traffic presents a peculiar
complication at this place. It is not an offense, as the law is ad-
ministered, to sell whisky except to Indians ; but if the liquor is
found in a person's possession the liquor is liable to seizure.
Most saloon men, therefore, carry very small stocks ' in sight,*
tha balance being conveniently * cached* in nearby places.**

Glacier Slide and Flood.

On the morning of September i8th a terrible glacier-slide and
deluge swept down the Chilkoot Pass and three men lost their
lives, one, Morris Choynski, a cousin of Joe Choynski, the pugilist.
His body alone was recovered. About twenty-five campers had
pitched their tents on the dry ground in the bed of the river
when suddenly the cry went forth, about seven o*clock in the
morning, that the glacier was falling. Every one made for the
hills, and the coming torrent, two miles away, sounded like

554 ADVENT OF WINTER.

thunder or the roar of heavy artillery. On came the waters in a
wall twenty feet high, moving massive rocks like pebbles and
sweeping everything before them. AH the tents and goods
along the river were lost and only twenty-two of the campers
succeeded in saving their lives. A deposit of sand from one to
two feet thick marked the path of the awful flood.

Reports of disasters on the lakes and at the fords on the
trails were numerous as the severe weather drew on, but happily
most of them proved to be unfounded rumors. Many upsets
occurred, and, a quantity of supplies was lost from the boats,
but the number of serious casualties was remarkably small con-
sidering the number of men exposed and the excellent oppor-
tunities for accidents.

Comparative Absence of Crime.

Crime and its corollary. Lynch law, happily made few public
appearances along the trails when the great rush was stopped
by the winter. The known cases had a semblance of ample
cause and effect, according to frontier ethics, except in the one
instance of the Buchanan-Kossuth murder and suicide at Skag-
way, which was entirely a cold-blooded affair and one in no way
chargeable upon the argonauts. The comparative peacefulness
and honesty which reigned along the trails, considering the great
temptations to greed and high temper which marked the condi-
tions, were a marked tribute to the character of the gold hunters
of '97.

One of the most important contributions which Alaska made
to the sum of human knowledge in 1897 was something which
could not be weighed in the gold scales or discounted at a
bank, and yet in another sense was of more permanent value
to the world than the diggings themselves. This was the suc-
cessful scaling of Mount St. Elias, the corner post of Alaska and

ADVENT OF WINTER. 655

hitherto regarded as the one inaccessible spot remaining on the
North American continent.

The successful ascent was accomplished by the party headed
by Prince I.uigi Amadeo, of Savoy, a nephew of King Humbert,
of Italy, and a mountain climber of world-wide fame and expe-
rience. The party included Clevalier M. Cagni, Francesco
Gonella, President of the Turin Section of Alpine climbers ;
Vittorio Selle and Dr. Fillippo de Fillippi, all noted Alpine
experts. The party measured the height of the peak, up to
that time estimated only, and that within a range of several
hundred feet, ascertaining the exact elevation to be 18,120 feet,
an important geographical and engineering fact.

The first expedition to attempt to scale Mt. St. Elias was led
by Lieutenant Schwatka in 1886. Two years later William
Williams and the Messrs. Forham, of London, England, made
the attempt and failed. T. C. Russell, of the United States
Geological Survey, made two attempts — one in 1890, and the
second a year later. Both were unsuccessful, though the ex-
plorer reached a greater height than any of his predecessors,
turning back only at an altitude of 14,500 feet, or 3620 feet
below the summit.

Klondike has a Permanent Interest.

The interest in Alaska and its gold deposits, widespread and
universal as it is, will very likely increase with the advance of time.
A marvelous region is this northwest Territory, great in natural
wonders and great in wealth. Where gold is, there men will go,
whether to the tropics or the Arctic regions, the heats of the
equator or the realms of endless frost.

That hundreds, perhaps thousands, will lose their Hves is only
to be expected, yet thousands of others will rush forward as men
do in battle to take the places of their comrades who have fallen.

556 ADVENT OF WINTER.

Some will survive the dangers, outlive the trials, and by over-
coming almost miraculous obstacles, will gain the coveted treas-
ures. Stories that never have been surpassed in tragic interest
are yet to be told concerning Klondike, and very likely all that
has been written and said in the past will be overshadowed by
events that are yet to come.

It is not likely that Mt. St. EHas will be ascended again for
many years, perhaps not in the present generation, but these
mountains, valleys and gulches are sure to be explored. The
enterprising Yankee will be found in every nook and corner of
Alaska, and if there is any money there to be found he will pick
it up. Every man will think it possible for every man to fail ex-
cept himself Many will trust to luck and later will be sorry for
it. Others will go about mining intelligently, understanding ex-
actly what they are doing, and they are the ones who will suc-
ceed and bring home the yellow nuggets.

■ V

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